Scientific Method
by Beckon
Summary: Well that's quite an exotic offer; you would be willing to trade yourself for those two? Now why exactly do you think I would accept that?" A 'What If' story. R&R. Szayel/Nemu.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: We all have our couples. And this is my couple. So if you don't agree with it or have some harsh words about the pairing, then I'll have to ask that you don't read it. Szayel/Nemu**

Slowly wandering the narrow corridors, she looked around for any kind of trace or hint that would tell her where she was exactly. It was definitely a lab based on the heavy scent of chemicals in the air; although the conjoining smell of blood was something she couldn't exactly explain. This wasn't Mayuri's lab so...who else's could it be? She was unfamiliar with any other known scientist or let alone anyone else who would have any use for such a large structure. Slowly stepping out of yet another hallway, she paused momentarily as it opened up into a much larger room than previous experienced. Her hands remaining on the corner piece of the wall as she did a quick survey of the new area before looking up at the faint sound of fingers striking the keys to a computer. She listened intently for several moments before moving towards the source, already having pinpointed it coming from the dark entrance way just across from where she was standing. Walking softly, her footsteps didn't even echo as she slowly approached the dark room; taking note of the small streaks of light that were being emitted from an unseen source inside of the area. She paused momentarily at the doorway before stepping inside to get a better view of the place.

There was a large computer screen mounted on the wall that looked as though it was viewing, recording and playing back several different videos and images; she couldn't see most of them as the computer sped through each picture and video to give them only a blink of time to show. The equally large keyboard had selective keys lit up while others lit up momentarily under a harsh touch. A dark figure was standing in front of the screen with fingertips quickly working across the keys. The person stopped suddenly for a moment and turned around towards her.

"I see you're finally awake."

The smooth voice caught her attention as she looked up towards the figure, still masked slightly by the dark. It sounded familiar to her but she couldn't pinpoint the memory; why did it feel as though everything inside of her had been emptied out?

"And I'll make a good bet that you don't necessarily remember me or anything else that happened."

"Where's Captain Mayuri?" she questioned.

The figure, now obviously a man telling from his voice, let out a rough sigh before the lights flickered on above them. Illuminating the dark room with bright waves that easily cut through the darkness and revealed the shadowed figure, who had only been slightly visible from the computer lights. His slender form was dressed in the average white-and-black Espada uniform that clung to his body like a second skin; only his had large blood stains running down the front of it. Pink strands of hair dipped slightly into his face, which he carefully brushed aside with one hand before readjusting his glasses. He placed both of his hands back against the cold metal frame of his computer desk and shifted his weight as he leaned back as well.

"He's dead."

She highly doubted the pink-haired Espada was telling the truth. There was no way Captain Mayuri could be dead; there was no way her Captain would fall. "You're lying."

"That's a reasonable response and it doesn't surprise me the least bit that you would reject that accusation with denial. After all, everyone does." he remarked. "But I'll go into details about it later once you've regained some of your memories back."

"What do you mean by 'when I regain some of my memories back?'" she questioned; still trying to figure out why this man looked so familiar. She knew he was an Espada and she knew she had seen him before. But as for a name or anything else to grasp at...she was at loss.

He sighed and rubbed one temple for a moment. "Yes well I do apologize for that. It seems as though my healing skills are starting to lack in doing much good, seeing that they do more damage than anything else. But I give it only a few minutes, possibly an hour, before you'll fully regain everything back to normal. Until then however, I would advise that you finish healing first. I don't need you snapping and rampaging through the place until you know exactly what you're dealing with."

* * *

A sling of selective words crossed his mind as yet another shot of pain tore through half of his body; forcing him to slightly cup the right side of his ribcage. He had managed to fight off the initial reaction to that damn human super drug, or whatever the hell it was called but the effects of it was still running through his body. Every now and then would either be sudden pain, momentary blindness or a very common reaction, vomiting blood. None of the side-effects were easy to tolerate, but it sure as hell beat being dead.

Pushing aside the pain as it slowly subsided, he stepped away from his massive computer and slowly headed out of the pitch dark room. He barely took note of the sudden change in lighting as he crossed through the room and entered one of the many maze-like corridors. While he could easily just use a portal to get to his destination sooner, with the drug still running through his system he didn't necessary trust that it would work or that it would open to the correct destination either. But there were more important manners at hand than just the drug...there was that woman. He didn't know where she had gone off to and really at this point he could care less, after all when she would find him when she was ready to speak. And seeing as how their previous conversation ended, he was certain she had plenty of questions to ask him. As of now, she was no threat. After such an extensive healing process, her strength would not be able to support itself within her frail body; which was a good thing seeing as the shape he was in himself, he wouldn't be able to give much of a fight back if she were to attack him. But after looking over her information he had gathered, there was a very slim chance that she would choose such a decision on her own. The man who had once dictated her life was now dead.

Oh and how that Captain was more of a pain than that damn Shinigami and Quincy team. That creepy smile of his was still etched into his memory and that irritating voice, that could drive any perfectly sane person to their death, echoed in his head. But the feeling of luring him into a false sense of security and then changing the tide of the battle at the last minute was more exhilarating then crushing all those organs and tendons from before. He let the Captain get close enough to where the tip of his sword started to cut into his chest before he struck. He could still feel the warm blood running over his fingertips when he tore them through the man's neck and let his nails split open his throat; watching blood squirt out of his severed jugulars and leave a red mist in the air. There was nothing more exhilarating than watching the Captain's body hit the ground after a long, stressful battle. The only thing that could've beat that one moment was the following one where he completely decapitated the body. Sure, it was easier to dissect bodies when they were in one whole piece, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to completely desecrate his enemy. All the fun he had in tearing the body to pieces once he was done with his research and the overall dissection part; he placed both the Captain's severed head and heart in a jar, which he kept in his lab on his desk. Just a little reminder of the battle.

"Why did you bring me back?"

The question caught him off-guard as he had failed to pick up on the woman's presence but from the sound of it, she managed to put the pieces together. He paused for a moment but didn't turn to face her. "Because despite my _previous_ actions, I do try to keep some kind of conduct of manners. And seeing as you were the victim of my Gabriel affect and I really do owe the battle to you, or at least your body, I figured it was the least I could do. Although it did put me through this horrible drug-effect but I suppose that's my own fault. It was a clever idea to poison your body with that kind of drug but unfortunately for your Captain, it didn't work quite as well as he had hoped. Did you really think that I wouldn't have predicted something like that?"

She could remember that Gabriel affect. She could remember her body feeling as though it was getting ripped apart from the inside out and then eventually dropping to the ground as an empty shell. But...the Espada she was looking at now didn't even seem to resemble that monster out on the battlefield. Then again, she didn't get a chance to look at his face beforehand but he seemed much calmer now and in control of himself.

"What about Ishida? Renji? Did you kill them too?"

"No. They passed out after the battle. I have them stored in a room somewhere around here and last time I checked, they weren't dead." he replied as he slowly turned around to face her. "They still have their injuries but they're not fatal so they should last for awhile."

"You plan on killing them, don't you?"

"No I was going to use their bodies for decorations on my walls. I think they'll look nicely in my lab."

His hint of bitter sarcasm was vaguely apparent when he spoke. "Let them go."

"Now why would I do that?" he questioned; readjusting his glasses.

"If you let them live and release them, you can have me." she spoke.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Well that's quite an exotic offer; you would be willing to trade yourself for those two? Now why exactly do you think I would accept that?"

"You said it yourself; you're still suffering from the effects of that drug. I can offer an antidote." she replied. "The drug has hindered and slowed down your body's ability to heal properly, shown by your hand; it's still bleeding. Just as well, it's attacking every part of your body and while the effects are somewhat minor at this point, they show the potential to elevate at any given moment. They won't kill you but it could implement serious damage that may or may not turn out permanent."

A light chuckle left his lips as he crossed his arms. "You mildly surprise me with your observations. There might just be more use of you than I originally imagined. I'll put your offer into consideration and give you an answer by tomorrow. Until then, I suggest you rest or you'll collapse on the floor and I would much rather not have to deal with that at the moment."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay so this chapter took me a bit longer than I had originally thought and had far more revisions to it than I have ever done before with any other story. So I'm still on and off about how it came out, not really too happy with the outcome but I think it's the best I can do for it. Hopefully the next chapter will be better though.**

There was a solid crack that echoed between her palm and his face as his back collided with the wall behind him. He barely had a chance to collect himself and check on his newest injuries before watching as she gave herself a running start to close in the space between them. She leaped at the last minute and pressed her feet against his chest; sending them both through the wall in a rain of plaster from the sheer force of her body kick. Striking the floor, he felt the pressure leave his chest as she rolled in a separate direction before doing the same himself; getting up in time to catch her next move. He caught her fist in one hand and managed to strike her hard with the other; watching as blood escaped from her now busted lip. Taking advantage of the moment, he used his speed to quickly put some space between them.

She was a close-combat fighter; skilled in hand-to-hand fighting with the strength of ten men in one punch as well as with the endurance and stamina of a ruthless, never-tiring God. She was an offensive player but her defensive side took in part to her ability to take a large amount of damage at once or overall. And if there was one thing he hated, it was close-combat or really any kind of combat. He wasn't a fighter; he would be perfectly content with just sitting back and observing a fight rather than being in one. Sure it helped with personal observations but once more, with his low combat abilities, it wasn't something he was looking forward to doing constantly. But with her...it was almost necessary seeing as she did surprise him with the sudden ambush earlier.

"You keep running away," she called; ignoring the blood trickling down her chin from the large split in her lower lip. "Why? I figured as an Espada, much less the Eighth one, you would be showing off the skills that I haven't seen."

He clicked his tongue slightly at her remark. "I'll let you keep guessing. It makes it far more entertaining that way."

Her green eyes never moved from his as her body language gave away her next move. He quickly side-stepped the swing when it came time for it and turned only to greet her eyes once more. Her direction changed at the last minute as her fist sank into his chest; forcing him to listen to the sound of his ribs cracking and breaking apart. She followed the motion with a swift kick that struck him hard in the temple and dropped him easily. However, she watched as his image disappeared only to reappear across the room from her.

"I knew you lacked skills in combat but I didn't think it was like this," she spoke; watching as he picked himself up and simply brushed off his uniform.

"The last time you engaged me was in Resurrection, which is really the only time my combat skills are vaguely acceptable," he remarked; pushing his glasses back up. "But really, if you were half as observant as your so called 'Captain' was then you would've figured that out the first time you hit me." her green eyes seemed to flare slightly at his comment. "I didn't mean to rile you up but I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop-" his sentence was cut short as she launched yet another attack and broke the wall with his body once more. Coughing up several sparks of blood, he picked himself up and touched at the fresh wound on the back of his head. "-throwing me through walls."

She stood at the large break in the wall and watched as the Espada only pushed himself up onto his arms rather than get to his feet. The only visible injury so far was a small split along his jawline from when she hit him earlier; the rest of his injuries were either bruises or broken ribs that were hidden underneath his uniform. Unfortunately for the Espada though, she had already detected that he had low combat abilities when she did first strike him; it was just more fun to keep hitting him. While his combat skills were low, he had surprising defensive skills to back him up. So far, he had taken more damage from her without so much as a blink. It seemed the more she did hit him, the more it rather agitate him than anything else. He complained more on how she was destroying the walls, and staining his clothing with blood than about how she was constantly hitting him over and over again.

"I really wish you would stop staring like that, it's freaking me out."

"You're odd Octavo." she spoke calmly. "What you lack in fighting, you make up in defense but yet your skin is incredibly weak; I can split it in one hit. I fail to see how you even manage to survive a fight without your release."

He narrowed his eyes slightly before getting to his feet once more; dusting off his uniform. "It's true. While I don't have the strongest hierro or even the best combat abilities, what I lack in physical strength I make up in logic. You've hit me numerous times Kurotsuchi, but with every hit you land it's only striking at maybe a quarter of its original strength. I've greatly reduced the damage intake from every strike, which means even though you've managed to break a few ribs and cause a few bruises...it's not even half the damage of what you've given away. Do you comprehend what I'm saying?" he watched as those melancholic green eyes only stared at him.

"You've already analyzed all of my moves and can reduce the damage to almost nothing," she recited. "Despite the number of times I've hit you or the number of times I will hit you, the damage is minimum and you'll be completely fine."

"I wouldn't say 'completely' fine, after all you did manage to break a few ribs," he chuckled; readjusting his glasses. "But after a few more rounds, you'll figure out that it's all pointless and that you're just simply wasting energy."

"Then I will keep fighting till I'm exhausted."

"Very well then."

* * *

He slammed her down against the floor and used his hands to pin her arms to the cold tiles. Once white, the floor around them was stained with spatters and smeared droplets of blood from their recent altercation. Panting, he never let his eyes leave her own as she kept that every stoic face of hers. With blood slipping from her lips, she took in short, clipped breaths quietly and listened to the sound of his staggered gasps. With the amount of blood staining the room around them and both their slightly damaged uniforms, it was hard to tell who exactly was winning.

"You lasted longer than I expected." she remarked.

"Like I haven't heard that one before." he scoffed. "Now are you through with your little 'fight club' game?"

"No."

He rolled his eyes and started to get up. "Okay, if I let you go will you stop hitting me? And need I remind you that your little exchange deal is still up to me to decide, so I would suggest you consider that before you answer my question."

Assured by her silence and lack of movement when he let her go, he pushed himself up from their current position and stepped away; pausing slightly as his left leg threatened to give out from underneath him. He dropped down to one knee as the pain seemingly rendered the limb useless; blood pulsed freely from the massive wound that tore down along the tibia. How the wound exactly got there was a bit of a mystery that was lost in the last few hours of their battle but he was almost certain that it happened when she threw him through yet another wall.

"Heh...you know that was almost a better fight than from before..." he chuckled; wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. "And I didn't even have to release for it."

She slowly lifted herself up onto her arms; sitting slightly on her hip as she turned to face him. "What's your decision?"

He glanced up at the question; allowing himself to meet those green orbs once more. "Well if I look past the fact that you seem to rather enjoy beating me up, breaking my furniture and destroying my walls then I still find some use in you...So my decision will favor your decision. I'll have them transported in the morning, which should give their injuries enough time to barely avoid the line of becoming fatal."

"You healed them?" she questioned.

"Yeah well...don't tell anyone." he muttered; brushing aside several of his loose bangs as he tucked them back into their place. "But it seems as though we're through here, so if there aren't any further remarks, questions, comments or punches, then I should really-"

"Szayel..."

"Yes?"

"...Thank you."

**A/N: I want to thank everyone for the reviews I've recieved. They really help kick me into finally finishing this chapter and getting a jumpstart on the next. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Alright I attempted to fill in on some of the background actions going on during this time. And seeing as it is technically a 'What If' story I wanted to see how far I could take that kind of scenario. Not planning on showing much of everyone else but I'm still working the story out in my head at this point. Hope you enjoy. **

Dusting his hands off as he entered his lab once more, Szayel stretched momentarily and felt the muscles in his back pull at the motion. As if spending most of the night before healing his injuries wasn't tiring enough, he still remembered their deal and used the morning hours to at least fulfill his part. While it was slightly disappointing to be losing two perfect test subjects, the exchange he received for the two was almost just as good. After all she was a perfect advocate for almost everything. After reviewing their last 'encounter' yesterday, he was almost certain he knew of most of her techniques and combat skills; she was quite a woman or rather 'being' with her amount of skills and uses. However to be honest, he wasn't necessarily sure what exactly to do with her. At first it was just to clear the battlefield, then it was out of slight pity and somehow all other choices seemed to merge together into yet another mess of questions. The use of a counter against the drug was pointless at this time as his body had already built immunity against it. All he really had to do was wait for the rest of it to leave his system and then it would just be yet another item on the list of things that no longer affected him.

Now that he did think about it...where exactly was she?

He remembered leaving shortly after their fight had ended, which meant the last place he had seen her was exactly where he had left her the night before. Not that he was too worried about her leaving or anything, seeing as she did seem rather committed to their bargain; it was more on the fact that he would rather not get ambushed again and have to relive everything over again. It was bad enough he would have to repair some of the walls and fix some of the damages done to other fixtures in his lab. The thought of it was already giving him a migraine. Continuing across one room of his lab, he overlooked the damage that was caused from their fight and walked through several of the broken walls' practically following the fight as he reviewed it over again in his head. Stepping through the last wall, he paused halfway through his tracks upon noticing the fallen figure on the floor.

Well unfortunately that was the last place he had left her.

But why had she remained there? He had gotten up after the battle and left but he was almost certain she had done the same. After all he had given her, her own room within his small wing of Las Noches, so why hadn't she taken advantage of it? Wait... he did remember to do that right? Or had he just merely thought about it and then gotten side-tracked about something else? Was that what he was thinking about before she ambushed him yesterday? Damnit, he really wished that drug hadn't messed with his memories or at least wouldn't make things seem so absent-minded sometimes. Sighing, he walked over to her and looked down at her unconscious form or at least she looked unconscious; she could've just been sleeping though. She was positioned on one side with one arm lightly tucked underneath her head; her legs were slightly bent with one ankle tucked behind the other. Her black kimono was pulled tight around her body due to the slightly twisting position, causing the hem to reveal the flawless skin of her upper thighs but still cover up enough to remain decent.

She was beautiful.

He wasn't going to lie or go around it; there was really no other way to describe her. While she was a perfect advocate for science...she was also perfect to the eye. Her body was well proportionate from her rather slender shoulders to her ample breasts, which were carefully balanced out with her wide hips and long, slender legs. She had the true essence of the perfect body shape with a well executed hourglass form that only added more temptation to the thin material of her dress.

He knelt down and carefully brushed aside several of the loose strands of hair that had fallen into her face; revealing the soft features that could catch the eye of any man. Now he wasn't one to typically get caught up on looks...but it was only inevitable that it would've happened eventually. Carefully tucking the strands behind one ear, he watched as her eyelids twitched slightly before slowly opening. Those green eyes remained semi-focused before slowly closing once more as a barely audible groan left her lips.

"Hey, you can't just lie here in the middle of the floor," he remarked; getting up to his feet. "I do have to work and repair some things around here and I can't do that if you're just laying here."

She carefully pushed herself up into a sitting position and rubbed the back of her neck. She didn't even remember really even closing her eyes but apparently she did seeing as the situation they were in now. "I apologize, I wasn't even aware of it."

"No just..." he sighed; rubbing his temple before a light sigh left his lips. "Don't bother with it. Here, just let me help." he carefully took her by the hands and helped her to her feet; keeping the touch brief and minimum. He took note of the injuries that still plagued her flesh, just minor ones though. A few bruises, a small cut on her neck and a light gash along her left cheek. "You look horrendous."

Bad word choice.

If he was serious about keeping her around then he should really work on his social skills.

However the remark barely phased the woman as she only glanced back at him with an empty look in her eyes. Just from that one look he assumed that she had either gotten use to people saying that or had far worse things said to her.

"That was rather rude of me but I suppose there's no skipping around the truth here." he remarked; running his fingers through his hair to push it out of his sight. "I have a washing room you can clean up in and fix yourself."

"I'm fine." she assured.

"This wasn't a discussion." he spoke. "In fact I don't remember asking for your input."

Okay, 'people' skills were the next on his list of things that needed work, right next to the walls.

She didn't resist or object when he carefully grabbed her by the arm and lead her out of the room. Moving through the different corridors that shaped a maze-like structure throughout the large building, he noted that she kept her distance but close enough to where it didn't appear as though he was dragging her. His grip was light but firm as he carefully pushed aside a door and stepped into a stark-white room that was void of all furniture. The only thing that decorated the room was a single door on the other end just across from them. "There's the washing room past that door. Feel free to use whatever you want and take however long you please, just be careful with the water system. It kicks out occasionally but it'll come back on seconds later; there's no water in Hueco Mundo but how we exactly get it in Las Noches is something short of a mystery. But we don't ask questions about it. As long as we have water, we'll be happy-"

"SZAYEL!"

He froze at the sound of his name echoing off the walls before turning back slightly in the direction it came from. Releasing her arm, he let out a rough sigh before clicking his tongue in annoyance; he could recognize that voice from anywhere. "You stay here. I have to take this call...unfortunately." leaving her behind him, he reluctantly headed back the way he had just came from. The voice was still partially echoing in his head and he had one good assumption on just where the figure might be located; although he would much rather not have to confront the voice at this time. From the slight rough pitches that did manage to echo clearly, he could tell that the stress levels were fairly high and there was an obvious tone of aggravation. Exactly the two things he didn't enjoy confronting. His footsteps lightly echoed behind him as he passed through seemingly countless corridors and empty rooms, as well as several locked doors that were pushed back into the far dark corners of the building. Really though, while the place seemed never ending, most of it was for visual confusion and merely just illusions to disorient and confuse his victims. For him it was just simply like a walk in the park; for his victims, it was something more related to a burning corridor that only lead deeper into this fascinating hellhole.

Turning the next corner, he picked up on the heavy spike in spiritual energy that was remarkably radiating from just one figure. However the level of spiritual energy, or at least those kind of levels, was none the most interesting and he rather much dreaded having to grow closer to them. With every new footstep it felt more like a suffocating cloud of energy that compressed the air particles around him. The energy dropped significantly for a moment before it shot back up, not quite returning to its previous level but close enough.

"Alright, alright, I'm right here-"

The sentence barely left his lips before he felt a hand grasp him by the throat and slam him into the nearest wall; pinning him there momentarily.

"Okay Nnoitra, whatever you want from me, you're not going to get it with this kind of behavior."

The Fifth Espada snorted slightly and loosened his grip but didn't necessarily let go. Large cuts split open parts of his face, chest, and arms with blood pouring out of every injury; splashing to the ground in large droplets as a small puddle was starting to form around him. His uniform top was completely shredded with the sleeves torn off, the middle ripped away and the coat tail fluttered lightly in tattered strands. The white eye patch he normally wore over his left eye was absent; revealing the hollow piece that took the place of his eye instead. His black hair hung down in strands heavy with sweat and slightly obscured his face for the moment.

"Tsk, I'm surprised you're still alive."

"Yes and I would like to keep it that way." he replied. "And just what the hell happened to you? Run into a Captain who was actually a match for you?"

Nnoitra narrowed his eye slightly at the remark. "Actually I did and you know what, it was the best goddamn fight I've had in a long time. Almost a fucking pity to see it end the way it did, but whatever. As long as I'm still alive, that's all that fucking matters."

"So that's at least two Captains who have been defeated." Szayel spoke. "At least that means we're making progress."

"Wait, you mean you actually did something aside from keeping your head in those fucking test tubes of yours?" Nnoitra scoffed. "I'm surprised you actually managed a fight."

"I would prefer that you don't barge into my place with the intent to only insult me."

"At least we're even now. Two Captains-two Espadas." Nnoitra commented.

"Two?" he questioned.

"Yeah, those fuckers Aaroniero and Zommari lost their battles; a pair of fucking weaklings if you ask me."

"Well good thing I didn't." Szayel muttered. "But that still leaves two Captains left."

"And an ass load of those little Shinigami fuckers running around," Nnoitra reminded. "Which means we're all going to have to play just a little bit rougher this time around. Starrk, Baraggan and Halibel already left with Aizen and the other two for that fucking Karakura town or whatever shit-place it was. With three of us already dead, that only leaves four of us to defend this place against those shitheads."

"Three of us? You just said only Aaroniero and Zommari died." Szayel remarked.

"Yeah well, I may or may not have killed Grimmjow earlier, which at this point I'm not up for questioning about it."

"You know Nnoitra, you've made a lot of stupid mistakes in the past but I think that one really has to top the rest."

Nnoitra snorted slightly before grabbing the man by his glasses; watching as he stiffened slightly at the sudden action. "You know what, if you don't shut the fuck up I'll rip these things clean off your face."

His breath caught in his throat at the motion. "Okay, okay...just calm down, no need to get rational here. Without Aaroniero and Zommari, that leaves our numbers at eight but without Starrk, Baraggan and Halibel, we're at five. Now that number varies on whether or not Grimmjow is dead, which worse-case scenario, we're down to four. Which means the four of us left will have to handle the burden of keeping this place under control. If we lose Las Noches then we might as well just give up because no way in hell will the other three come running back to help. So that means if you don't let go of me now then you'll be the one stuck with all the extra battles and from the looks of it, you've gotten your ass kicked enough lately."

His grip tightened slightly before the Espada eventually released him. "The _only_ reason I'm not going to kick your ass right now is because one of those Captains is heading in this direction and you're going to be the one to intervene on his little 'Crusade'."

"Oh thanks, this whole time you're jumping on my back for my lack of combat skills and now you throw this at me." Szayel scoffed; readjusting his frames after the slight encounter.

"Yeah well I have to get healed, who knows what the hell Ulquiorra is doing, and you know Yammy's a fucking retard," Nnoitra growled. "So you're the only one left right now, and after all, if I die from blood lost I guess you'll be the one who has to deal with the extra burden. So why don't you take a hint and get your ass out there. The least you could try to do is hold the fucker off till someone else who can actually fight shows up and takes care of this whole fucking mess."

The Fifth Espada was known for his sharp tongue and inability to figure out when exactly was a good time to stop talking.

"Fine. Just get out and stop bleeding on my floors."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Bit of a short chapter here.**

As much as he hated to leave things in a mess, if what Nnoitra said was true then he would have to leave now in order to make enough time to cut off the Captain. He had checked all his cameras beforehand and had quickly spotted the Captain slowly making his way through the building. But thankfully due to its massive size and infrastructure, it would take the man awhile before he really made any kind of progress on getting anywhere. The thought of having to fight yet another Captain in such a short time span was what really annoyed him; he still wasn't completely healed from the battles earlier and this Captain was certain to be more combat-prone than the last was. This put him in a very difficult position unfortunately. He was lucky enough to have gotten out of the last one alive which gave off the feeling that this one wasn't going to end well. But just the 'feeling' of a battle didn't prove anything; only the hardcore facts of a battle would be able to give off maybe even the slightest answer. Still though, there was that ever present feeling of dread...

Returning to where he had left her before, he pushed open the doors that lead into the large, stark-white washing room. It was only after he had stepped foot into the room did it occur to him that he probably should've knocked first. However, it didn't matter that much seeing as she was already fully dressed and busy brushing her hair in front of the massive mirror that took up a large portion of the wall. Carefully seated on the cushioned bench in front of the counter, she ran the brush through her thick locks several times before switching it over to the underside; making sure to care to every strand. If she had even noticed him, she didn't give any word about it and continued on with her business. He cleared the space between them, not entirely sure why he was there or what exactly he was going to say to her, if he was even going to speak to her. But before long he was standing just a foot or so behind her, close enough to see the light cling of her uniform to her still moist flesh. She still seemed to be more focused on brushing her hair as she ran the same motion over and over again before eventually setting the brush aside; her fingers ran lightly through the wet strands before she pushed them over her shoulder and let them blanket over her back. She carefully separated the strands into three sections before slowly working her way through re-braiding her hair. She was only halfway through the process before she quickly unraveled her progress and slowly started it over once again; apparently unhappy with how it was coming out. He watched her repeat the same process several times, unhappy with how it turned out each time.

"You know your friends are relentless." he remarked; brushing aside her hands as he picked up where she had left off. Crossing each section carefully to keep the braid tight, he noticed that she sat completely still and made no move to stop him.

"Much like you Espadas are, correct?" she replied.

He glanced up into the mirror, catching the reflection of her eyes. "Well aren't you a quick one. But I suppose even though we would rather not be compared to Shinigami's, we are alike. One side is going to come out of this alive; the other will barely limp on."

"Who do you think will win?"

"It's rather too early to tell. As of now, our death rates match up and we've sent out our top three Espadas to go against your top three Captains," Szayel answered; watching as her silk strands ran through his fingers easily. "The deciding battle is far from here so it could be days before we even find out what happened. Let's face it, we both want our side to win but in the end..." he carefully finished the braid and held the ends together as he tied them together. "One of us is going to be disappointed."

She carefully ran her fingers over the finished braid. "But just think if you win, I still have a good chance at living; if we win, you'll be killed without hesitation."

"That's a nice point to make."

"Just in case it influences your decision any."

He stepped back from her. "Very well then, I suppose we'll see how that goes when I return."

"Leaving again?" she questioned.

"Well more like stepping out for a moment to handle a rather...annoying subject." he answered as he turned to leave. "I would advise that you at least try to stay out of my things and if you see a rather tall, black-haired man with one eye...keep your distance."

She watched him leave through the reflective glass before he paused at the doorway; halfway through leaving the room.

"Although I suppose if I don't make it back then you're more than welcomed to leave."

And like that, he was gone.

Her fingers continued to run over the braid as the memory of his gentle hands carefully tucking each strand into the criss-crossed pattern remained clear. Getting up from her seat, she carefully smoothed out her kimono before heading towards the cracked door. After all, he only _'advised' _that she should stay out of his things.

* * *

There he was.

One of the two remaining Captains that remained in Las Noches at this point.

And as much as he would prefer to just step back and wait for Nnoitra to show up, with time going against them at this point he couldn't risk losing another minute by just standing around. He had managed to do some brief study on the man and looked over his power, which had something to do with Cherry Blossoms. While it didn't sound quite that threatening, he could only imagine how that kind of technique could turn deadly. After all, the Captain managed to defeat Zommari. Which was something else that continued to annoy him. The Captain had managed to defeat the Seventh Espada, so with his placement as Eighth there wasn't going to be much going for him.

Then again Zommari was really not much of a fighter as much as he was a so-called philosopher.

But standing around and waiting wasn't going to save their asses.

Carefully examining the situation, as well as his surroundings, he stepped out of his observation place and slowly approached the Captain who had paused momentarily. He stopped almost instantly as soon as the Captain turned to face him; obviously the Captain had already picked up on his spiritual energy beforehand.

"Another one?" the Captain remarked; keeping one hand on the hilt of his sword. "I suppose you didn't see what I did to your friend back there."

"Then I would only assume that you didn't see what I did to yours either."

The Captain's eyes narrowed slightly at the comment.

"Well I know you're not Kenpachi Zaraki, because he's dead," Szayel spoke; adjusting his glasses. "And you're not Mayuri Kurotsuchi, because he's dead as well. So that leaves only Retsu Unohana and Byakuya Kuchiki." he watched as the man's facial expressions only hardened slightly but other than that they never changed. "I must remark Kuchiki that was quite a show you put on for Zommari Leroux. How do you feel with performing the same for me?"

"Gladly."

* * *

Her fingertips lightly glided over the massive keyboard as she watched the computer screen light up brilliantly. Almost instantly dozens of surveillance cameras appeared on screen; each small square represented a different camera and changed angles at certain time increments, creating a constant update on every inch of the wing. Her eyes were constantly moving from camera to camera before she stopped slightly as one camera showed a blink of action. Carefully working her way through the program, she managed to isolate that one camera and bring it up on full-screen; watching as another flicker of action showed up before a solid figure eventually appeared. A black Shinigami uniform was slightly burned on one side with a massive cut going from the left shoulder down at an angle. The figure paused and looked to be catching his breath before a second figure returned. This one was taller and feminine with silver braids tangling against her back.

"Isane."

She didn't know many of the other Vice-Captains, aside from the introductions at the meetings but Isane had always seemed to make an effort to get to know her; whether it was because she was a frequent visitor to Division Four or because they had often been teamed together on the occasional missions for the Shinigami's Women Association.

But if Isane was still there then that meant the other figure was Hanataro, which meant that Division Four was still in Las Noches. And from the looks of it, they weren't having an easy time avoiding the dangers of the Hollow-infested realm. She watched as Isane looked at something behind them and grabbed Hanataro by the arm before quickly flash-stepping out of view; only a few seconds later, the ground they had been standing on was blown away in a sudden explosion that took the camera out as well, leaving her only a static picture.

She couldn't leave them though...

As a non-combative Division she doubted they would be able to put up much of a fight against the remaining Espadas; they would get wiped out easily. That was unless those remaining were too afraid to confront Retsu Unohana, which would not be surprising seeing as many of the Captains were timid about even speaking to her. Even Captain Mayuri was reluctant to deal with the woman...

She had failed in protecting him.

But she wouldn't fail in keeping Division Four alive.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay so drifted a bit far from the original storyline but I thought it was worth mentioning. There are a bit of plotholes in this 'What If' story that I'm not really up to explaining so I'll just take it from here. So just bear with this kind of outlier of a chapter for now. Thanks for the reviews guys, they really do mean a lot to me. **

She had been keeping a close eye on the moving Division; catching them every so often in the camera's eye. It had taken her a few trial and errors before she finally got a hold over the computer system. The trio had unknowingly put themselves further into the wing; allowing her to easily use the system to guide them along as she shifted walls and locked doors to put them on the right track. There was only one way to get out of Hueco Mundo and that was through the use of a Garganta. However only the Espadas and the Hollows had that kind of ability to tear through the dimension wall...but that didn't stop her from researching into the matter more. Luckily there was a way for her to construct one instead and keep it so that their presence was practically undetectable to anyone passing close by. She had most of it set up already but decided in finishing it once she managed to get the Division members in closer.

Stepping away from the keyboard, she quickly memorized the layout of their current position before heading out. They were close enough to where she technically wouldn't be leaving the premises. Only simply stepping out into the hallway.

* * *

"This is bad."

Isane glanced back at the remark. "Hanataro, stay calm. We're going to get out of this." she knew the Seventh-chaired member was prone to panic attacks and from the look of his pale exterior, it was taking all of his strength to not lose his nerve. She didn't blame him though. It seemed with every corner they turned, there was either something moving to block their path or block their backs. It was like someone was turning this building into a large maze for them...hopefully there wasn't some kind of mouse trap at the end.

"It feels like someone's leading us in here." he replied.

"I get the same feeling." she nodded; looking up in time to see Unohana pause momentarily. The Captain had been fairly quiet through this mad race throughout the building, speaking only to tell them to hurry along or to watch out for impending danger. "Captain?"

"I think we need to go...that way." the woman spoke; pointing at the corridor to their right. "I'm picking up someone's energy from that direction."

"Is it friend or foe?" Isane questioned.

Their Captain remained quiet for a bit longer before continuing on her way. "It's difficult to tell but I'm almost certain it's a Shinigami."

_Who else could be here?_ Isane thought as she followed after her Captain. As far as she knew, four Captains had entered Hueco Mundo with their Lieutenants. There was Captain Unohana with Hanataro and herself; Captain Kenpachi with Yachiru; Captain Mayuri with Nemu; and Captain Byakuya but his Lieutenant Renji was apparently already here. And the only other people that were reported here along with Renji was Rukia, Ichigo, Ishida and Chad, as well as Orihime who was technically like the sole reason they all came rushing here. They ran into Renji and Ishida earlier, both of them were badly injured with fairly unique wounds that proved some difficulty in healing. However once they were healed, she barely had a moving argument in keeping the two to stay with them. In the end, the Quincy had stayed with them while Renji went on his way to find Rukia and Ichigo. And then somewhere along the way they ran into Chad, who decided to stick with them with little to no argument. While Division Four was usually deployed for emergencies and relief missions, this time they were really pushing their luck. If it hadn't been for Chad and Ishida throwing off the occasional Hollow attacks from the so-called 'Extermination Squad', they probably wouldn't be here in one piece right now. Or at least not with all their members. Although to be honest, Unohana seemed to be warding off most of the Hollows with just some sheer level of intimidation.

"Oh no..."

The remark snapped Isane from her thoughts as she looked up to see what the cause of it had been.

"It's a dead end." Chad spoke; speaking for the first time in hours.

"Someone's toying with us." Ishida remarked.

Isane let out a disappointed sigh. "We'll have to backtrack now but all of the passages behind us have been blocked."

"It's like we're running around in circles..." Hanataro whispered. "What do we do now Captain?"

"We wait." the woman replied.

"But there's nothing here to-" Isane started before watching as part of the wall in front of them exploded into large pieces of concrete and debris. She shielded her face and turned half of her body away from the explosion as a large cloud of dust seemed to devour the entire group. Coughing slightly as some of the dust managed to get into her lungs, she waved the remaining dust from her face before turning to see who had caused the explosion. Ready in case it was just more hollows.

The dust cleared partly to reveal a dark figure standing at the man-made opening in the wall. Details weren't clear but there was enough to spot the Shinigami uniform that most of them were wearing.

"See? I told you all we had to do was wait." Unohana smiled as she started to walk towards the figure. "What a pleasant surprise Nemu. What are you doing here?"

Her green eyes lifted at the voice as she watched the Division Four Captain walk over to her. "Captain Unohana, I'm glad to see that you are alive and well."

"Oh my Gods...Nemu." Isane smiled as she hurried forward and pulled her friend into a light hug; it felt like part of a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. "It's good to see you in one piece. Are you alright? It looks like you could use some healing. Where's Captain Mayuri? Did he send you here? Where exactly are we?"

"I...Captain Mayuri is dead."

The quiet group shared a silent, collective gasp at the news.

"I'm so sorry..." Isane whispered. She had always thought ill of the man but that never meant she would be glad to hear about his death; he was a Captain after all. And as abusive as he was, she knew how dedicated and loyal Nemu was to him but to have him completely erased from her life like that...she was surprised the woman hadn't already destroyed herself over the news. She looked back as a hand touched at her shoulder and watched as Unohana nodded; carefully pulling the two apart.

"His death was honorable, as will his funeral be," Unohana spoke.

Nemu nodded back in understanding before turning her attention back to the group. "I know a way of how we can escape here."

"Excellent." Unohana replied. "I have a feeling our presence will be at a greater need elsewhere."

"You mean we're going to just leave?" Isane questioned. "But what about-"

The rest of their conversation seemed to fall only between them as Nemu turned her attention to someone else in the group. Carefully excusing herself from between the Captain and her Lieutenant, she walked over to where the others were standing around, waiting for the next set of plans to be settled on. She watched as the Quincy was busy cleaning off the front of his glasses to notice her at first; he certainly looked better than the last time she saw him.

Surprise certainly dressed his face once he had slipped his glasses back on.

"I'm glad to see that you are better." she spoke; lightly resting her hand on his arm.

"You're looking...better yourself." Ishida replied. The last time he had seen her that Espada had ripped free from her body; leaving her looking skeletal and mummified. God, even the memory of it still made him shudder. He remembered passing out sometime after having to witness that, so that meant that Mayuri would've had to been killed after he blacked out. So then that Espada was still alive...Which would cause even greater problems for them if they stayed here any longer. Fuck. But wait...if Mayuri had been killed...then how was she back looking normal again? "Nemu...do you know where we are exactly?"

"We're in his lab." she answered.

"Wait, you mean that Espada we were fighting....this is his lab?"

"Not quite, it's just a part of it." she nodded; half turning to glance behind her. "It's just beyond that wall."

"How do we know he's not going to confront us?" Ishida questioned.

"He's out fighting right now..." Nemu whispered before turning back to face him. "We should go now before he shows up again."

"What Espada are you exactly talking about?" Chad asked.

Ishida looked back at the man. "His name is Szayel; he's the Eighth Espada. Renji and I went up against him earlier and needless to say...It would just be best if we avoided him at all costs. He has horrible combat skills but if it was enough to take out Captain Mayuri then...I just think it'll be easier to avoid all confrontation at this point."

"Okay Nemu, show us where we can exactly escape this place." Isane spoke.

* * *

"So explain to me how this works again?"

Shouldering another large pillar into the makeshift Garganta, Nemu looked over the progress she had made and so far it was fitting the exact blueprints of one. "The Garganta is the only way the Espadas and Arrancars can travel in and out of Hueco Mundo. It literally rips apart the dimensional fabric between the different worlds and allows for them to travel wherever they please. I can only assume that even though the Hollows are the only ones with the ability to open a Garganta, that doesn't stop us from recreating one."

"Uh huh," Isane whispered; looking over the large transport device. "And this will take us back safely?"

"You have to steady the energy into a suitable walkway, but I don't think it will be much of a problem with you." Nemu answered.

"I think that's the most I've ever heard you say at once." Ishida remarked; looking over the familiar lab. They had been here just hours before...

"You are usually quite the silent one." Hanataro nodded; taking the moment to rest.

Unohana watched as the woman just carried on with moving the pillars into their designated place; the pillars had to have been at least five times her weight and ten times her height. The use of a Garganta was certainly an idea she hadn't previous thought of but it was one worth trying out now. It was only a few more minutes, several more pillars and some mild adjusting before a rush of air tore loose as the Garganta fully ripped open. Revealing a whirlwind of uncontrolled energy on the inside that produced a harsh gust of air that whipped around the mouth-like opening.

"Oh goodness," she spoke; her Captain's jacket fluttering around her.

"We're suppose to control that?" Isane questioned; holding a hand in front of her face as she tried to catch a glimpse of the Garganta. "It's a bit extreme." she looked up as Unohana walked over to the giant, massive...'thing' and it seemed like just her presence caused the energy to die down. She watched as the energy stopped howling and soon the untamed whirlwind calmed into a suitable pathway leading into darkness. "Are we sure this is going to work?"

"I suppose all we can do at this point is hope that it does," Ishida commented; adjusting his glasses.

"What are we going to do about Ichigo and Orihime then?" Chad questioned.

"I am confident that Ichigo will know what he's doing and be able to return to us." Unohana answered as she looked over the opening before stepping through. "We should hurry and return to Kurakara Town. Our assistance is greatly needed there."

"We'll be more help there than we are right now," Isane nodded as she stretched. "Wait what about Captain Byakuya? Will he be okay?"

Unohana looked up at the question before lightly shaking her head. "Captain Byakuya is no longer with us."

"Oh my Gods..."

"Now is not the time to dwell on the past. We must keep going in their honor; we cannot allow Aizen to destroy Kurakara." Unohana spoke; watching as everyone nodded lightly. "We cannot waste any more time at this point."

Hanataro sighed before getting to his feet. "Yes Captain."

"I doubt we'll be much help there...but it's better than sitting here doing nothing." Chad remarked.

"At this point, we have no other choice," Isane commented. "When Unohana says you go, you go. There's no room for argument. Let's get going while this thing still stays opened."

Nemu stayed back and watched as everyone walked towards the Garganta. What was she suppose to do? From what she had heard and partly of what she's seen, Szayel kept his end of the deal. Ishida and Renji were fine; healed back to their former perfections and back to their fighting. That meant that she still had to hold up her half of the deal; so this would be the last time she saw any of them again. She felt a slight tug in her chest and a sudden pain in her lungs but she couldn't dwell on that now. Slowly walking towards the open Garganta, she watched as everyone climbed inside before pausing just at the opening.

"Come on, I can heal you along the way," Isane called; offering her hand to her.

"I...I can't-" Nemu started before feeling a sudden heat engulf her body.

Isane yelped slightly as she watched the woman get blown out of sight; a burst of energy exploded on contact and sent her body cratering into the nearest obstacle. She started to go to help her but stopped at the sound of someone...laughing?

"So you must be her little friends...how unfortunate for you or rather, for her." there was a solid crack as one of the pillars began to crumble before collapsing completely; causing the Garganta to close down suddenly. There was a low burst of air as the rip completely sealed itself off. "I'm surprised...for such an emotionless doll, you went to quite the extremes to save them. It's a shame that this ends here for you now."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Alright so hopefully a better chapter than the last one was. I had to get my sister to help me some with this one but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Not exactly how I had imagined it but it's better. **

A low groan cursed her lips as she slowly became aware of the small crater in the wall that she was in. Her eyes shot opened at the voice before she watched as the Espada destroyed one of the pillars in a single hit. The red beam crumbled underneath the force and collapsed inward; causing the large Garganta to immediately seal itself together; permanently closing the others on the other side of it. But they were safe now or at least they were out of Hueco Mundo; whatever they ran into in Karakura Town was out of her hands but at the least she could say that she got them that far.

"You're a risk."

She turned her attention back to the Espada; taking note of the drastic change in his appearance. Selective areas of his uniform top were torn away, leaving behind shredded remains and a tint that seemed to turn his entire uniform red. What flesh was revealed was either torn in narrow cuts that created a painful-looking pattern or missing through massive gashes. He held one hand over his left eye; blood bubbled through his fingers and down his bare forearm. She slowly pulled herself from the crater and got to her feet; cautiously watching the man as he paused slightly in his own steps.

"And at this point...we can't afford to have those."

Blood dripped freely from his injuries, leaving a growing puddle of red underneath him.

"It's a tragedy to have to get rid of something like you...you were unique." he closed his eye and let out an audible chuckle. "And to think all he had to do...was cut you loose."

"What do you mean?" Nemu questioned quietly.

Szayel shook his head before looking back at her once more. "You could've been back in Soul Society by now; you would've been in that Garganta heading back with your little 'friends'. You could've been there. You could've been safe but most importantly...you would've had your Captain back if all he had done was cut you loose." another chuckle fell free from his lips. "I should almost be thankful for his stupidity and his intelligence. He was smart enough to create you but stupid enough to deem you worthless. You were created from his flesh, from his image, as though you were to be the daughter of God and yet...you were just a piece of property to him. You weren't created for the protection of Soul Society; you created to be his mule. He could do whatever he wanted to you and you wouldn't die from it. He could cut your throat, split your arteries, break your spine, crush your skull, do whatever the hell he wanted because no one was going to object to him. Not even you..."

She pressed her back against the wall behind her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm almost certain if I were to cut you open now, everything would come out like a storybook. From the day you were first created to now I could detail every account, every scream, every little cut and bruise... everything. It's brilliant really, to create something that's so close to immortality...something that's almost immune to death; I would never compliment a man like him but the idea of an ever-lasting variable...it's fascinating. But there's one thing that you should understand, Science will only take you so far before madness kicks in." he reached up and brushed away a stray, blood-stained strand of hair. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before that kind of man succumbed to it as well."

"He wasn't crazy. Not like you are." she spoke; watching as he carefully dropped both hands to his side. "Some people find Madness; you became it."

He carefully reached up and pushed his glasses back in place before his image shifted slightly; appearing just inches in front of her. His hand touched at her neck and pressed her up against the wall. "Tell me what it's like knowing the only person who ever gave a fuck about you is dead. But even then, the only attention he gave you was either from his fist or his sword. Did you even know what he was doing to you? You pledged so much loyalty to him because he was your creator. And you know what? You weren't his Lieutenant; you were a piece of property to him and he treated you however way he pleased. And you took it because that's what you were created to do. You were created to test experiments on; to save his ass; to be a safeguard against anything; to be an excuse; to be whatever the hell he wanted. And do you want to know why? Because you were the only one who could survive it. That's why he created you."

"As if you don't do the same." she replied.

"I show mine mercy and kill them afterwards; I don't let them linger around just so I can bring them back." he corrected. "You, on the other hand-"

"Why do you wish to mock me?"

"Because you're blind. You think any of those people really cared about you? Their fear for your Captain overlapped their sympathy for you."

"You don't know anything about them or my Captain."

The comment was calm and collective, and yet the sharp tone hidden behind it was enough to snap at his short temper; fueling a spark of insanity to rush through his bleeding veins. His hand tightened slightly before he slammed her into the wall, causing it to crater in once more. The thought of having to repair yet another damaged wall never crossed his mind as he watched the young woman wince at the sudden attack. His entire body was practically shaking from a mix of the pain that coursed through his body like liquid metal and the beginning deterioration of his mind. He shook his head and slowly released her as he took a step back; the pain starting to black out his sight.

She watched through slightly cracked eyes as he seemed more in battle with himself than he was with her. His entire body stiffened with pain, forcing his fingers even harder against her throat before his grip slowly released; allowing her to find her footing again as she watched him step away from her. At this close distance, she could see the pale shade of his flesh and the bubbling injury that maimed the left side of his face. His eye was gone. The only thing left of it was a string of tissue and nerves that pushed through the massive split of the injury. The only thing that got her was the sheer severity of the injury, as well as how he managed to get it without his glasses being damaged.

Her hand grabbed him harshly by the shoulder piece of his uniform before she pulled him back towards her; her other arm catching him around the back of the neck to ensure he didn't move away again. She could feel his lips shudder lightly as she brushed her own against them; pulling him down to her level, she ran her fingertips down the curve of his throat before roughly closing the space between them.

His hands touched briefly at her waist in reaction to the sudden action; at first in the motion to push her away before it shifted into the exact opposite. He pushed her into the crumbling wall as her fingers cupped along the curve of his jawline; their tongues almost too eager for confrontation as everything from before seemed to become irrelevant. His fingers dug into her hips as he forced her head back to deepen the embrace, feeling her reaction as her body seemed to arch into the motion; her chest pressing firmly into his own as she made quick to follow up the move. The wall crumbled a bit more as the embrace seemed to grow in aggression despite their stationary position; his body pressing harder against her own as she returned the gesture just as equally. The mortal need for air was more than enough to force the two to succumb to the burning pit in their lungs.

"I was just curious if you tasted as bitter as you looked." she whispered.

"And?"

"I was sadly mistaken."

* * *

She watched as his chest slowly rose in staggered breaths every now and then before easing back into a normal breathing pattern. It had taken her quite some time to care to all of his injuries, which ranged from small cuts to the stab wound in his eye. She still wasn't sure how that happened without breaking his glasses, but at the moment it wasn't something to be pondering about. Her fingers lightly touched at the injuries she had already taken care of, like the two slash marks that tore through his sides, as well as a gash that ran along the side of his neck. He didn't really object to her occasional rough tactics in healing; she wasn't trained in the art of healing but she had picked up a few tricks after watching Isane. Most of the bandages were already turning red again with blood though, giving off the impression that she had finished them incorrectly. It didn't matter to her as much as it slightly pushed her patience. She could help move him from the lab to a room she only assumed was his bedroom and carefully tend to his injuries, but she couldn't make the bleeding stop. The loss of blood only made his skin seem even paler than it was before.

Her hand lightly touched at his bare chest, careful to avoid any small cuts she had left exposed to heal. She could feel the soft rattle of his ribcage with every breath and the slight inflation of his chest whenever his lungs filled with air. But there was something missing...

"You don't have a heartbeat." she spoke.

"Correction, I don't have a heart."

His response caught her slightly by surprise as she had expected him to have lost consciousness a while ago. Her fingers lightly parted the stray pieces of hair that had fallen into his face before she placed them back against his chest. "How?"

"There's something called the Chain of Fate, which binds the soul to its living body. When this chain is broken an erosion will take place and the process of Hollow transformation begins; when it is completely decayed the soul becomes a Hollow. The significance of this process is that once that chain breaks and disappears, so does the heart. For many, when the chain eroded away it left a hollow hole in its place to signify its absence."

"But you don't have a hollow hole." she commented. Or at least she didn't see one.

"You're right, I don't." he replied before pressing one hand against her sternum; just barely able to feel her faint heartbeat through his fingertips. "So that's what a heart feels like."

She felt his cold flesh brush against her own before she moved her hand to cover his own; her fingers just barely slipping between his own. "I may be artificial but it's real."


	7. Chapter 7

Why did she kiss him?

It was like she was caught up in the moment when he had her pressed up against the wall. He could've killed her but he didn't; he could've killed the others but he didn't. Everything he could have done to make her life even more of a living hell, he chose not to. And there was that moment when he eventually let her go and backed away; it was like he wasn't even fighting her at that point. Like he was fighting himself. Sure when she had faced him before he seemed crazy but she didn't imagine him to be like that. Not that crazy. Not that lost in madness.

But even then that didn't serve as an excuse as to why she would make that kind of move. It wasn't really like she knew the meaning of a kiss aside from that it was a sign of affection; an expression of respect, greeting, passion and love. And none of those exactly fit the previous situation. Sure she had seen a few people kiss in Soul Society before but those ones lasted for just seconds before the couple parted; that wasn't even half of their embrace, if that's what you even wanted to call it. It was stupid. It was reckless. And overall just a meaningless act. Maybe she just did it so that he wouldn't hurt her again...

And yet she could almost still feel his hand against her sternum; his cold touch seeking out her heart...

He had been resting for a few hours now; leaving her with enough time to spare to be by herself. At first she went about exploring more of the place but decided not to venture off too far; then it was picking up pieces here or there. The place was a mess. Then again the walls were still broken from their previous altercation. Or at least they had been broken. She repaired most of them to pass the time and keep herself busy during the empty hours, the few she didn't repair were minor and could easily be overlooked. Cleaning was something she always did to keep time moving by and keep herself preoccupied when nothing else was going on.

Brushing off her hands, she overlooked her work before stopping slightly as something briefly caught her attention. A slight spike in spiritual pressure caught her off-guard as she turned to see if she could get a better lock on the source. But it was like as soon as she turned, the source itself walked into the room. A tall, slender figure pushed through the lab doors and stepped inside. His hair was black and long, almost touching his shoulders with some strands; the Espada uniform he had been wearing was torn apart, leaving most of the top in just a sleeveless mess. A long torso and upper body was carved completely with long, jagged scars that stuck out against his pale flesh. She took note of the eye patch that covered what was once his left eye before remembering back to something Szayel had said before. Was this the black-haired, one-eyed man he had advised that she stay clear of? If so then it was a bit late to try and avoid his detection. She watched as all it took was a slight flash before he was standing right in front of her. He was much taller up close. At the least, he had to be seven-foot five-inches; easily towering over her smaller five-foot five-inches frame.

"And just what kind of spit-fuck do we have here?" he remarked.

She almost had to strain her neck just to look up at him but remained quiet about his comment.

"What? You missin' a tongue or something?" he continued; grabbing her by the face. "What fun is a bitch without a tongue? And just why is a little fuck like you in here? You somehow managed to escape everyone else without being sensed? Well I guess your fucking little game is over with because I'm about to beat your fucking face in." with that he turned and tossed her halfway across the room; watching as she struck the ground with a slight bounce before skidding the rest of the way and into a wall.

A minor flash of pain struck her lower spine as it took the main hit when she slammed into the wall, but she wouldn't allow it to slow her down. Picking up on his next move, she easily rolled herself out of the way as his foot broke through part of the wall she had previous been against. Taking his slight moment of delay to her advantage, she easily put available space between them and watched as the taller man turned back towards her; his face broken with a large, eerie grin.

"So maybe you're not as much of a dumb fuck as I thought you were." he grinned as he walked towards her; watching as she slightly stiffened into a battle pose. "Ooh so now you want to play huh?"

She had no intentions of fighting this...Espada but given his aggressive attitude towards her already there was no other choice. It wasn't like she was afraid to fight him, she would defend herself easily but it was something in the way he talked or the way he used selective words...something about it put her on high alert around him. She watched carefully as he started his next move before they both froze at a sudden increase in energy that shot through the room; lasting for just split seconds before disappearing almost instantly. It was enough to catch her off-guard but not enough for her to miss out on his next attack; bringing her arm up to block his swing, she grabbed his own arm and pulled him partly down to her level. Her foot slammed hard into his ribcage and felt the bones give in slightly beneath the pressure; he, however, managed to grab a hold of her leg at the last moment and flip her through the air. Striking the ground hard on her back, she looked up in time to see his fist coming down towards her; rolling off to the side, she felt the ground shake slightly underneath her from his own force before she rolled back in time to slam her fist into the side of his face.

"You're a little candy-ass now, are ya?" the Espada laughed as he grabbed her by the shoulder piece of her kimono and lifted her up by just that alone; causing the fabric to start to strain and tear apart. In one easy motion he tossed her aside like a ragdoll once more.

This time she caught enough air and landed swiftly on her hands before flowing carefully into a back flip; landing on her feet and back into another pose. The left side of her kimono collar was ripped; the fabric hanging off in threads and strands.

"Well now I think I'm beginning to like this view."

She watched as he flashed towards her once more; forcing her to flash-step back a few feet to gain the needed room for her next move. Using the nearest lab counter as a support, she waited several seconds before placing her hands against the cold counter top; flipping herself back onto it with well-executed kick that managed to catch his jaw just as he closed the space between them. She landed the move easily and flipped off the other edge of the counter to make a quick barrier between them only to see him appear suddenly at her side instead. His hand grabbed a hold of her braid and wrapped it around his knuckles before he slammed the side of her head into the sharp counter edge; forcing a large split along on her right temple. Jerking her back, he pushed her into the nearby wall before using his other hand to grab the back of her neck.

"You know, your kind is really starting to...Piss. Me. Off." he growled; pulling her back before he threw her across the counter and into the middle of the room once more. "I'm starting to think I like the silence; if there's one thing I hate, it's when bitches talk."

Nemu groaned silently and touched lightly at the throbbing injury at her temple; her fingertips were quickly dressed in blood at the light touch. Nevertheless though, she picked herself back up and prepared for the next move of the battle; watching as he only seemed either to be entertained or aggravated by her impulsive behavior. He made his way around the counter and towards her before raising his fist for the next strike. Quick to defend herself, she crossed her arms over her face and prepared to take the hit; taking note when it didn't happen. Her green eyes slowly lifted up to see what had stalled the attack.

"Now then, would someone kindly tell me just what the _HELL_ is going on?"

Nnoitra sneered slightly at the sudden appearance of the Eighth Espada who had stepped between the two; noticing the changes in the man's demeanor. "Well you look like shit."

"And you look like an idiot." Szayel replied; readjusting his glasses.

"You know, if you don't fucking watch what you say I'll put out your other eye too." Nnoitra growled. "And since we're on the subject, you wanna tell me why you look like a piece of shit? What? You lose that battle?"

He closed his eye for a moment and crossed his arms before looking back at the man. "First off, the battle was fairly successful but that was really only after Ulquiorra showed up and finished it. The damage was fairly minimum and non-fatal, with a few exceptions. But if my predictions are correct, which I presume they are, then that was the last of not only the Captains but of the Shinigami's as well. And now, since I explained myself, you want to share your side."

"Not much to say." Nnoitra snorted. "Just the usual. I had a Captain, I defeated said Captain and then I went to get healed so I didn't bleed to death. Then you know, I had to make sure that you finished the job or at least someone around this fucking hellhole did; I figured we had gotten our asses kicked enough to where we could make some kind of comeback and it looks like it worked out. Now all we have to do is wait and see how those shit battles at that stupid town go and figure out our future from there."

"Well it's nice to see that you're thinking ahead."

"But hell you know, while we're off of that subject, you wanna explain to me why exactly there's still one of those fucking Shinigami standing right behind you? And why you feel so confident to leave your back to her?" Nnoitra questioned; side stepping to get another look at the woman only to be blocked once more by the other Espada.

"At this point it's really nothing to focus on-"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up and stop bullshitting around the fucking answer." Nnoitra interrupted.

"No Nnoitra, why don't you control yourself and, in your own words, shut the fuck up and listen to me." Szayel replied; fairly calm. "You know, it irks me when people come barging into my lab and then demand me for answers when really you don't even seem to have the common courtesy to knock. Now then if you-"

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't some kind of fucking answer, I swear to some fucking God I'm going to hit you in the face." Nnoitra growled.

"See things like that are not going to get you your answer any time sooner."

He felt the muscles in his arm twitch slightly at the smartass remark; barely able to contain himself from just striking the Scientist right in the face. "Alright you know what, I am in no mood to deal with this fucking nonsense. If you don't want to answer my fucking question, then I'll find my own fucking answer to it." he sneered slightly as he picked up on another energy source nearby. "Don't fucking listen in on my conversations, you bitch."

"Oh really? Is that any way to talk to me after I saved your ass?"

Szayel looked up at the new voice before taking note of the well-endowed figure that walked into the room with them. Thick blue-green locks flowed over her somewhat broad shoulders, almost matching the color of the ripping fabric that was barely able to cover her breasts and hips; showing off a well-fitted form and muscular body shape. A large skull piece sat on top of her head with horns curling backwards; giving off an animalistic type appearance. But the one thing that was more notably worth mentioning, aside from her outrageous sized breasts, was the pink marking going straight across her face just underneath her eyes; while the mark itself wasn't much, it helped bring attention to the large scar coming down from her forehead.

"You have got to be fucking with me..."

"You saved my ass? To hell, it was your dumb-ass that needed to be saved. You're probably still suffering from that fucking head damage." Nnoitra growled; turning back towards the woman.

"Always quite the sore loser weren't you Nnoitra. Always have been, always will be. Face it, if I hadn't been in that battle, that Captain would've had your head mounted on his wall by now." Nell snorted back in retaliation as she crossed her arms; pausing in her steps just a few feet from the trio. "Now you wanna tell me why the hell you drug me back here?"

"The only place I would drag you is across the desert to erase that fucking look off your face." Nnoitra remarked. "Now why don't you go away and let me finish this situation here. Better yet, why don't you go and do something about that whore-look you're sporting."

Nell laughed almost bitterly at the comment; shifting her hands to her waist. "I'm surprised Nnoitra, seeing how your perverted mind works I just assumed you would be enjoying this little 'outfit' of mine."

"Yeah maybe I would if you weren't such a bitch."

"If you two could take your little 'domestic' dispute some place outside that would be appreciated." Szayel commented.

Nnoitra glared at the pink-haired man for an instance before shifting it back towards the former Espada. "We will deal with this matter later; right now I guess I'll have to see what this whiny little bitch's problem is. You know, I think I liked you a hellva lot better when you were a fucking kid, at least then I could just pick you up by the face and toss you aside."

"Ha! I'd like to see you try that now! Come on Nnoitra, why don't you show me even more of how much you've 'changed?'"

Szayel watched as the two bickering Espadas headed out of the room; shouting and yelling at each other as they did so. But despite their insults and challenges at one another, neither of them even made a threatening move towards the other as they left the doorway and disappeared from sight. A quiet sigh left his lips as he closed his eye for a moment; his fingertips lightly kneading his temples as another migraine started to rage through his skull. He swore they were going to be the death of him if nothing else killed him first.

"Who was that?"

He looked up at the question before turning around to the woman behind him; watching as blood rolled down the right side of her face, nearly covering most of it in red. "That was the fifth Espada, Nnoitra Jiruga, and former Espada Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. It would be best to avoid the both of them, especially when they're together." What he wanted to know was how exactly she was back? The last time anyone saw her, she had somehow reverted into some kind of child-like form after Nnoitra broke part of her hollow piece. That itself was hard to explain but now with her back in her normal form, it was like one continuous puzzle after another. Even if it could be explained then why the hell was she with Nnoitra? From what he could pick up in their conversation, apparently Nell had helped him in his battle against the Captain which meant Nell would've had to have set aside her hatred for the man in order to help him. Which didn't make sense either way one looked at it. Why was she here? And why was she helping them? The closest answer he could get to would've been something to do with her pride as an Espada, and even with that he was just bullshitting an answer. For now though he was in no state, physically or mentally, to be dealing with it. He had a hard enough time keeping his spiritual energy from going completely crazy as with before.

"Thank you." she whispered.

"Tell me something..." he started; carefully brushing aside her hair to get a better look at the split. It was a good three inches, if not more, and tore right over her temple; opening a water gate of blood to flow freely from the wound and down her face. "Do you always care for the men who abuse you?"

She allowed him to gingerly touch the wound and easily refrained herself from wincing. "No, just the men who can't defend themselves."

"It's not bad." he spoke; almost as if ignoring her answer. "Just a minor split and some bleeding. It should look better once it's been cleaned and bandaged; I don't think stitches will be necessary although it will leave a bit of a scar."

"Now will you tell me something?" Nemu questioned.

"It really depends." he replied; switching his attention to her ripped uniform now. Part of the left collar had been ripped away, causing the remainder of the kimono to slightly slip off her slender shoulder and reveal a fair amount of new flesh. Carefully grabbing the frayed ends of it, he pulled the uniform back together to shield her shoulder once more; making sure it at least stayed in a modest position.

"Do you always go crazy like that?"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I did not expect for this chapter to kick my ass for that long. It didn't work out at all how I planned so now it changes the order and situations planned for the next few chapters. Not happy at that but I tried really hard for this one to work and I do believe this is the best final draft of it. The next few ones will be better and focus back on the couple, I promise! **

Crazy was a rather childish word to use; he preferred the term Mad, after all it was his signature right?

But he was really in no mood to answer that kind of question.

"Let's just say...it's not a habit."

She started to object but stopped when he placed his hand over her mouth.

"Now then, let's just end this rather pointless conversation." he spoke; watching as she gave a light nod before he dropped his hand. "I'm surprised Nnoitra even showed up here again. I figured if there was any place he hated more it was here."

"Why is that?"

He gave a light shrug and adjusted his glasses. "We have a mild past. Nothing too serious, it's just that it's easier if we both ignore each other and avoid as much contact as possible." he stretched briefly and rubbed the back of his neck. "But seeing as he survived somehow, I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other than we liked to or at least we will be for now. There's one thing to know, Nnoitra is a difficult man to get along with; if you end up on his bad side, you'll find yourself in a very grueling position. You won't have to deal with that though seeing as he already hates you, but as long as I keep him preoccupied he'll eventually just forget about you."

"Are you implying that I can't defend myself?" she questioned.

"No, that's not it." he replied; carefully choosing his next set of words as not to agitate her sudden defensive mood. "I would just 'prefer' that you no longer engage combat with him. After all, you should be glad that he ripped off only a small piece of your uniform this time."

She narrowed her eyes slightly at his remark before letting the matter go. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I should start actually doing something around here seeing as I've wasted plenty of time just laying around." he answered. "Las Noches, as a whole, is pretty much in shambles right now and with just Nnoitra and Nell running around...well nothing is going to get fixed. Not to mention seeing as there is only possibly four or five of us here left, then we should check in with one another no matter how much we hate each other. I don't think we'll all go berserk and destroy one another but it's still a good possibility."

"How did you ever work together as a group?" she spoke.

"We never really 'worked together' as anything. We're hollows and we're Espadas, that's the only thing linking us together. We have different signatures, techniques and really there is nothing keeping us together now. If you want to get technical with it, we were pulled together under a stronger power; one strong enough that no one here would oppose to it." he replied; watching as she easily understood who he was talking about without another word. "Now the problem is if that power really ever returns. If not, then we'll more likely go off and kill each other without hesitation. Not saying that that's the most certain thing to happen, but if anything else it's the best guess."

She watched as he seemed to give little reaction to his own words even if it was about their own demise. "So then-"

"I want you to stay here while I'm gone; I should only be out for a few hours." he interrupted; pushing up his glasses once more. "And seeing as what few of us that are left will be fairly centralized to one another, I don't think you'll have to worry about running into another combat situation."

"But I-"

"This wasn't up for discussion." he remarked; cutting her off once more. "I don't mean to be a bit of a 'prick' here, nor do I mean to be rude, but it's just easier for me if I at least know where you are while I'm gone."

She decided not to follow him up on the comment and instead shifted her eyes to something on the other side of the room. "Do you think you'll be okay walking around with your injuries like that?"

"I've lived through worst."

* * *

Las Noches had taken a massive amount of damage resulting from just those few Captain battles; then again the little Shinigami ranks had been running around earlier as well and they destroyed just as much. The five pillars on the dome were completely destroyed and left only ruined shells in their wake; some of the massive walls were beginning to crumble from missing pieces; and some of the spiraling layers had completely caved in all together. A small breeze brushed sand through missing walls and across the once flawless, marble-like floors; making the once majestic palace seem more like the ruins of a bomb shelter. The entire place was eerily quiet and even the smallest noise was amphlified through its echo.

"This place is like a grave yard." Szayel remarked to himself as he passed through the wide corridors; watching trickles of sand fall from the ceiling and collect in small hills on the floor.

"The damage is great but it's still standing." a voice commented before him; a dark figure stepping out just around the next corner to claim the comment.

He stopped slightly before crossing his arms. "Ulquiorra. I didn't expect to run into you so soon after that last battle; I figured you would be too busy healing at this point."

"As you." Ulquiorra replied. "We were in the same battle; although I do believe you took more damage early on."

"I'm Eight, you're Four; do the math." Szayel spoke.

"You're missing an eye."

"And you're still regenerating parts of your body."

The pale-skinned Espada only returned the comment with one of his fairly normal blank expressions before looking out into the great deserts; revealed through yet another missing wall. "We should look into gathering together to figure out the next plan of action. We won't be able to do much without Aizen here but we shouldn't just be sitting around dressing our injuries."

"Not much else to do aside from keep a hold on Las Noches and make sure it doesn't fall down on top of us." Szayel replied.

"So how long do you plan on keeping the Shinigami alive?" Ulquiorra questioned; watching as the pink-haired Espada almost seemed to tense at the question. "I overheard Nnoitra complaining about it."

Easily straightening himself out once more, he reached up and adjusted his glasses before crossing his arms. "Possibly about as long as you're going to keep that healer alive." he looked up in time to catch the other Espada glance at him before looking away. "But I suppose we'll just keep that under wraps for now."

"Not like anyone else needs to know about it."

"Exactly."

Ulquiorra stared out into the darkened horizon of Hueco Mundo, marking the end of Las Noches where the artificial sun cut out. "Where would we be able to find Nnoitra and Nell at this time?"

"To hell if I knew." Szayel scoffed. "I always figured if you stayed in one spot long enough, they'll just find you."

"We won't get far in this discussion without them." Ulquiorra remarked.

"I beg to differ but I'll leave that decision up to you."

"Then tell me your opinion on how the Karakura Town battle will go." he questioned; watching as the Scientist seemed caught off-guard for the second time. "What? You don't have an opinion on it? Or do you just not know what to think?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Szayel objected quickly; pushing up on his glasses. "It's just that it would be extremely difficult to try and dissect a battle that's in a different dimension, not to mention those Captains there... it would be near impossible to try and figure out their power level. But if we were to compare them to the Captains here, assuming that they work on matching levels which I presume they do, then we can compare the battles in the Karakura Town to the ones here. Although we will have to make the exception that we sent our most powerful Espadas there, as well as Aizen himself but in regard, the Captains have more than likely stored their strongest to keep that town safe. If anything, those battles would be a dead-lock between the strongest on each side."

"So what is your opinion?"

"If it comes down to a matter of opinions, then I'll have to base it on both my previous statement and my own observations." he started; taking a slight pause. "It will not be an easy victory, but a victory nonetheless."

"You're fairly level-headed in your decision." Ulquiorra commented.

Szayel scoffed quietly to himself. "We were invaded by the Captains, lost two or three good members, had most of this place we called 'home' destroyed, had part of the dome shattered, and are now forced to sit around and wait to see the results for the Karakura Town in either victory or death for all of us. Yeah...someone has to be level-headed around here and aside from you, I don't see anyone else filling in that position."

"How many of us are exactly dead...that we know of?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Zommari and Aaroniero are the only two I know of for certain that are dead." Szayel answered. "Grimmjow is a possibility and I don't know what happened to Yammy."

"As long as their bodies are here and in most pieces then we can easily have Orihime bring them back." he responded.

"What?"

Ulquiorra looked towards the Espada once more. "She has an unique healing power that allows her to-"

"No, that's not what I meant." Szayel interrupted. "You just called her by her name."

"And?"

"Ever since she was brought here, you've been calling her 'woman' and 'girl'; this is the first time you've ever called her by her name." Szayel remarked; watching as the pale-skinned Espada seemed to think his sentence over and remembered the name he said just seconds ago. He abruptly ended their eye contact. "And for that matter, you have been unusually talkative lately. Not to mention, your entire posture has changed; you don't sway back as much and your hands are at your sides instead of in your pockets."

"Your point being?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"I never said I had one. I was just merely observing and asking a question."

"Yes well-" Ulquiorra started before stopping as part of the wall in front of them shook and cracked underneath pressure coming from the other side; it only took a few seconds before the wall crumbled at the weight and more large debris pieces toppled inward. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see the two Espadas get back to their feet and resume their fighting.

Szayel sighed and placed a hand against his forehead. "You know, I guess I just kind of assumed that with the damages already mounting from just the Shinigami's alone, most people would take into account to not destroy anything. Or at least, not to touch anything."

"When I'm through with her, I'm coming after you." Nnoitra growled.

Ulquiorra gave a light shake of his head before appearing between the two, who instantly ceased their next upcoming punches. "Now is not the time to be making up for the past. If we expect to still be standing when the first Espadas come back, then we will have to cease in this nonsense behavior. However, once they return and everything is given the okay, then you may take up this meaningless batter outside of Las Noches. But until then, we are expected to, at the least, cease from trying to kill one another; I know how hard that may seem but if we expect to live through this, then we cannot make more enemies for ourselves."

"You should've told me that before I killed Grimmjow." Nnoitra snorted.

"So then you finally admit to it?" Szayel questioned.

"Well it's not like I checked to see if he was really dead, he just kind of stopped moving."

"Oh you are making progress for yourself there Nnoitra."

"You little punk ass-"

Nell placed a hand on his chest to stop him. She took in a deep, forced breath before harshly letting it out. "As much as I'd hate to admit it, he has a point. If we want to keep our home, we'll have to stop fighting within our fraction. What if more Captains were to attack us now? What would we do? Turn around and backstab each other? It's not going to work if we try to run on a system like that. So why don't we take a page from the past, and work together on this one."

"You were more than willing to fight me earlier to save your little orange-haired boyfriend, and now you're acting like you're some kind of fucking saint to us." Nnoitra snorted. "Way to play the field there."

"Do not make me change my mind on this."

"So we have what numbers are left and something of a death count." Szayel remarked. "That leaves us with four people here and three in Karakura Town, so that's seven. It's not a bad number for what we had to go through and we should still be able to match the number of remaining Captains. However I suppose we should consider adding in the number of their Lieutenants remaining as well, and seeing as most of our Fraccions were killed earlier we should try and make energy in case we have to fight them as well. However this is really only for if more Captains were to show up here, which is unlikely but not something we can rule out at this time."

"Yeah about Tesla, I didn't really see where he went after he got hit."

"Smooth one, asshole."

"Nell, you whoring bitch."

"This was a bad idea." Szayel muttered; watching as the two got into yet another yelling fit. "Well if we're through here, I'm just going to head back to my room then. No sense in sitting around here wasting time."

"We still have a few healers who managed to survive; I would suggest that you go visit one of them." Ulquiorra remarked. "You'll do us no good in that kind of condition."

"Always quite the heart warmer, aren't you." Szayel replied sarcastically as he turned to go.

Nnoitra glanced up from his argument with Nell momentarily as he watched the other two remaining Espada begin to part away from the group; signifying that their small 'meeting' was no over. "Hey, just as a question, what the hell are you two going to do with those Shinigami's you're keeping? It's like you're completely fucking with the enemy in a different sense."

"Excuse me?" Ulquiorra questioned; turning back towards the two.

"Oh my Gods, are you two really that senseless?" Nnoitra snorted.

"No, you're just a perv." Nell retorted.

"No one was asking you Nell and you wanna know why? Because no one wants a woman's opinion."

"And that's my cue to keep walking."


	9. Sexual Content

**A/N: So had a LOT of trial runs before I finally got this chapter right. Sorry for the long wait but I had to make sure it worked out perfectly. It's not my best but certainly FAR from my worst lol. But to go ahead and warn some people this chapter does contain Sexual Content, so if you don't want to read it just exit out of this chapter. I've been waiting quite awhile to do this chapter finally and if you can't handle it, then sorry but I'm not looking to change it anytime soon. It is a bit of a time skip but everything will be explained later on, I just felt like this situation deserved its own chapter without distractions. **

"We really have to stop running ourselves into these kind of situations."

"You can if you want to; I'm not."

His cold lips seemed to melt into her own as his hands pushed her body into the mattress; provoking a low moan from her throat at the sudden action. His hands cupped her slender jawline for a moment as the tip of his tongue traced over her lower lip; she gave no hesitation in giving into him and felt his warm tongue push into her own. She tangled her fingers in his pink hair and felt him tilt her head back as he furthered the embrace. He dropped his hands to the damaged neckline of her kimono before stripping her shoulders free of the material; exposing her flesh to the cool temperature of the room. A light shudder ran beneath her skin at the sudden exposure as her hands slid down against the curve of his spine; pulling his body closer against her own as his cold flesh came in contact with her warmer skin. Her arms crossed over the back of his neck as his hands traced over the stress lines of her kimono; fingers running over the smooth curves of her breasts.

Her hands pressed against his bare chest; feeling how his muscles flexed lightly underneath her touch. She traced the crevice down the middle of his chest and ran over the grooves of each rib before dragging her fingers along the soft tissue of his abdomen. Part of her was more eager in discovering new parts of his body while the other half was still settled in simply dissecting him by touch. After all, he was something like research material, right? Just another subject she could play with. Her hands fell over the straight cut of his sides before lightly placing pressure just beneath his ribcage; a light groan followed her motion as he returned the same gesture by squeezing her sides. It was just enough to drain her remaining air into a low moan, which seemed to cripple her deprived lungs. And yet the human need for oxygen wanted to come second to the animalistic desire for lust.

His lips broke away from her own as they both shared the gasp for fresh air; bringing a heated relief to the burning in the pit in their lungs. She tightened her grip on his sides just enough for him to get the hint before rolling him onto his back; her hands balancing on his shoulders as her knees locked at his waist. His hands were quick to grab at her round hips before following up the perfect curve of her spine; bringing her lips down against his own. She welcomed the gesture and let her tongue embrace with his own once more; her fingers digging lightly into his flesh. He cupped the back of her neck with one hand as he ran over the white material of her sash with the other. Tugging lightly at the material till it loosened from its original hold, he slowly started to unravel it from around her waist; causing her kimono to fall open just a bit more with each motion. Eventually finishing off the last few inches of the sash, he let the white material collect on the ground before pushing aside the open edges of her kimono; pressing his hand against the bare flesh of her stomach. She moaned lightly at the cold touch as he traced over the soft contours of her abdomen before roaming up along the dips of her ribcage. He touched at the curve of her breasts and felt her shudder at the contact, provoking him to repeat the motion once again. Every vertebra in her spine vibrated as he cupped one hand around her breast and carefully kneaded the tender flesh with his fingers; causing her to moan sharply behind his lips. His fingers were quick to catch her nipple while he still had her in his grasp, feeling her entire body shake at the motion. Gingerly rotating the soft mammary, he listened to her chorus of groans that echoed against his lips as her fingers dug harder into his flesh; he held out her sweet song for as long as possible as he teased the mammary till it hardened into a stiff perk beneath his touch.

Despite the abundance of oxygen still between them, she broke away from his lips and sat back against his waist; her hands pressing against his abdomen for better balance. He caught sight of the pink blush that surfaced over her cheeks and the hazy look in her green eyes as she pushed away from him. The black material of her kimono fell open to expose her perfect, ample body underneath; her breasts easily peeked through the material to barely reveal her soft-pink nipples. Her athletic body seemed to be on display as the loose fabric slipped down to reveal one shoulder, emphasizing her sex appeal past human comprehension. Perfection and beauty seemed to run in her blood from her slender shoulders, to her well-endowed chest and flat stomach; her wide hips and full thighs, which were spread over his waist, were enough to drive any man towards insanity. It seemed like every inch of her skin was slowly starting to redden as her blood flow increased to accommodate for her racing heartbeat.

Pushing himself up into a minor sitting position, he let his fingertips brush against her bare back as his hot breath eased over the curve of her neck. Her hands moved to grasp at his shoulders as she felt him lightly skim the tip of his tongue over her flesh before biting into the gentle curve. Trailing up and down her sides, he moved his fingers to touch at her hips before teasing the lower curve of her stomach; tracing over the waistband of her black underwear. His skin shuddered as her fingertips fell down along his chest and touched at his abdomen once more before skimming over his lower abs just above the black sash that dressed his waist. Wrapping one arm around the back of his neck, she carefully pulled the sash loose from his body before sliding it free with her fingers; letting it drape over the edge before toppling over to join her own sash on the ground. She pushed her fingers through his pink hair as he bit into her flesh and drew up small beads of blood; her nails returning the favor by raking down the back of his neck. His hands tightened against her hips at the gesture before he moved them to lightly cup her shoulders; sliding over the loose material of her kimono. Pushing it away from her flesh, he followed it down the slender form of her arms as she complied with the motion and let it completely leave her body; the black material folded over into a heap on the floor. It seemed like one motion, with his hands at her waist, and he had her on her back once again; his hands pinning her own to the bed beneath. His lips brushed against her own just briefly; skimming her lower lip with the tip of his tongue. But he drew her just close enough to the anticipating embrace before pressing his lips against the arch of her throat instead. He felt her breath tremble against his lips as he lightly traced shapes onto her skin with his tongue; following the soft curve of her throat down to the hollow dip of her collarbones. She shuddered at his clean touches as he moved his lips to skim over her sternum; her fingers curled into her palms as a different stroke of heat seemed to pass from his lips and into her body. Everything inside of her felt like it was set ablaze with every nerve in her body more than willing to pick up on his touches and fingertips. Her breath stilled as his tongue ran over the surface of her nipple before he caught the soft mammary between his lips. Arching her back lightly at the sudden motion, she felt his tongue continue to stroke the hardening flesh before he bit into the soft tissue to get a second reaction; a soft gasp left her lips at the gesture and left her spine curling upwards once more. He moved one hand to keep both of her wrists as his fingertips were quick to capture her unattended perk; carefully rotating the hardened tissue in perfect time with his tongue. Every arch of her spine pushed him to nip more at her flesh and leave her feeling the burning sensations of pleasure to filter through her blood system. He could feel her entire body shifting beneath him as he continued to bring out her vocal side; provoking her to say a little more with each touch. She felt her blood boil inside of her veins as he pressed his palm against her trim stomach and let his fingers follow the soft contours all the way down to the soft, protruding bumps of her pelvic bones. His fingertips traced the gracious dip of her lower stomach before pressing against the inside curve of her thigh; running his hand along her burning flesh.

Slowly teasing her flesh with just his fingertips, he traced the light muscles in her thigh from the soft dip of her pelvic bones down to her knee; finding that the motion was easier with her legs lightly clasped at his waist. He dropped his lips away from her breasts and pressed them against the dip of her ribcage, slowly moving down to the curve of her stomach. His elongated body allowed him to touch the lower curve of her abdomen with the tip of his tongue before he moved back up to her neck; feeling her thundering pulse practically ricocheting off his lips. She felt his lips against her own as his hands went to cup her jawline; drawing in a simple embrace to entice her. Her hands slid around to the back of his shoulders as she pulled his upper body closer against her own; her tongue pushing into the next step as he more than eagerly picked up on her motives. His fingers almost pressing bruises into her flesh as he tilted her head back and let his tongue slide into her mouth. She dug her nails into his flesh and lightly traced crescent shapes into his skin before drawing up small beads of red as the pressure behind her fingers increased with each passing moment; practically causing blood to slowly seep out of the split flesh. He barely paid any attention to the bleeding injuries and instead slid his body against her own; both of them moaning as every inch of their flesh seemed hypersensitive to any touch or any movement. She moved her fingers to press against his spine before following the collection of vertebra along the smooth curve of his back; listening as he groaned softly at each new inch she touched.

His fingertips carefully followed the smooth curves of her body before locking around her hips once more; this time tugging at the small black material that remained as the only piece dressing her body. Her legs moved over from one side as she felt his fingers trail down along her full thighs and down her slender calves; letting the simple material fall to the ground. Her fingers traced his jawline as their embrace dissolved underneath panting breath; her lips lightly grazed his own before she nipped at his lower lip. Tugging lightly at the soft tissue, she felt him easily oblige to her motions as she pushed herself up against his body; forcing him to sit back on his knees slightly. Her fingers slid down against his chest before stroking his stomach once again; this time, her fingertips carefully pushed past the loose waistband of his pants. A low groan escaped his lips as she moved her own to cover his, not quite sealing them into another embrace but just enough to share his warm breath against her own. She moved her hand to cup his jawline as her fingers pushed the white material from his hips. She purposely drug the process out for several minutes before letting the thin material collect on the floor. It almost seemed as though that process alone was enough to wear them out with panting lungs and dry lips.

His hands found their place on the curve of her hips before he pushed her back down against the bed; his lips dressing her neck once more. She moaned softly as he pushed his hips between her thighs before shifting her own hips to better comfort them both. Her fingers curled into the bruising flesh of his shoulders as he slid one hand against the mattress, the other remained tightly pressed against her hip. She willingly gave herself to him as the first thrust came quick and easily penetrated her soft body. Her back snapped sharply into an arch at the sudden, but anticipating action as a gracious moan escaped her lips; he had entered her so flawlessly it felt like every inch of her body was filled with a rush of pleasure. A soft groan left his lips at the sudden tightness of her body and at the sweet ecstasy that filled his blood; her warm muscle walls seemed to eagerly greet him as his hips pressed firmly against her own. He took a moment to relish in the heated moment; listening to her soft pants and feeling her fingers cling tightly to his flesh. She felt him slowly pull away before repeating the same motion; his body connecting with her own once again with the same heated passion as the first. Her fingers clasped around his jawline before she drew his lips to her own; pulling him into an embrace as his hips continued to roll against her thighs. She had given him the first few thrusts before carefully picking up on the motions; her hips colliding with his own the next time. The eruption of heated lust from that touch alone was enough to break their lips apart for a single, matching moan. He moved his hands to cup her face as he drew in the next kiss to match the next penetration; their lips sliding apart when his hips moved away from her own. Fingers tangled in his light hair as she moved her body to mimic every one of his motions; her hips colliding with his own to draw his body in deeper; her lips pulsed against his own with each thrust before breathing away with every removal; her tongue made the most of every short embrace, practically having him moaning from that connection alone.

Her pelvic muscles were tight and had to have each thrust followed by a stronger one in order to push through them. Her round hips were slowly becoming bruised from his own pushing them back against the mattress; her warm thighs surrounded his narrow hips and pushed him to drive deeper inside of her. Those perfect lips were parted whenever they weren't against his own; her voice giving out sultry moans and soft cries whenever he struck that one spot inside of her. That well-endowed body, that he once admired from a distance, was flushed and slowly becoming dressed in a thin layer of sweat that caught the reflection of the dim lights above them. Her fingers parted through his hair and touched at the open wounds on the back of his neck before dancing along his injured shoulders as well. She seemed to be playing with his flesh before her fingertips pressed against his neck; feeling the stillness inside from his absent pulse.

"Ahh..."

Her lips softly parted just long enough to moan underneath his own as he managed to stroke the heated spot against her wall once more. Her entire body felt like it was set on fire as a rush of iron-hot passion shot through her entire system. It felt like her spine was snapped into an ever-lasting arch as he found a new way to get her to contort underneath him. His lips clashed with her own as his body connected with her own once again, this time he just lightly brushed against her cervix; bringing out yet another long moan from her throat.

"Szayel..."

The sound of his name rolling off her sinful tongue was perfect to his ears. The sound of an echoing moan following afterwards was enough to solidify his previous statement as he left softer kisses to decorate her lips; feeling her own tremble lightly underneath his.  
Her abdominal muscles tightened with every following roll of his hips against her thighs; it almost felt like pain collected in the pit of her stomach as her fingers dug hard into his flesh. He groaned lightly as she brought up new beads of blood to dress over his shoulders. A soft gasp left her lips as his hips grinded into hers once more; pushing her body to the brink before dragging her slowly back into reality. It was almost like he knew she was balancing on tipping edge; his next thrust was slightly delayed before he came inside of her once more. Their bodies arched into one another's as a still, breathless moment conquered the both of them. Her hips buckled against his own as her body constricted around him; her abdominal and pelvic muscles contracted and brought a sharp hiss from his lips. The sharp contact of her hips grinding hard into his own was enough to signal defeat as he gave into her warm body and took her from deep inside. The tense moment was held out for several moments before the silence afterwards was broken only by the sounds of their heavy panting.  
Her fingers uncurled from his flesh before falling limply to her sides; her body completely drained of all energy. Shortened breaths seemed to curse her burning lungs as she took this still moment to make up for the breathlessness just seconds ago. He brushed aside her damp bangs before softly kissing her forehead; feeling her lightly tremble at the soft touch.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Honestly, I was going to write about how I had to redo the beginning several times but that I was happy with how this chapter turned out, but after reading that last review I'm speechless. I honestly don't know what I can say to show my appreciation for such a thoughtful remark. It easily made my day. So even though I don't really know you, and I wish I could say more, Thank You Isa; you really made the story worth it. I also want to thank all the people reading this story as well, whether you like the couple or if it's just out of curiousity.**

The rush of hot water ran clean streams over his body as he pressed his fingers through his hair; feeling each heavy strand give away easily. His shoulders burned at the slightest movements as the water washed away the crimson liquid that bubbled from each scratch that had torn through his flesh. Just when he thought he had finally healed himself, it seemed like there was always a new injury that showed up unexpected. That didn't go to say that he wasn't proud of the injuries because he was. Nothing could erase the memories of her desperate fingers tearing fine lines across his shoulders or her passionate body pressed up against his own. Her quiet demeanor seemed to have cracked underneath the pressure; he could still remember how she accented those soft screams underneath him. While the previous hours were still freshly recorded on his body, he thought back to the quiet, fast-paced moments just before that.

Despite the rather nerve-binding process, he did allow a few of the residential healers to tend to his injuries. The cuts and gashes on his chest and abdomen had been healed and reduced to small, barely visible scars, which he could deal with. The gaping injury over his left eye had been partly healed, or at least to the extent that he allowed for them to heal, before he let science take care of the rest. He had originally been working on a serum to help regenerate limbs but it never really reached the strength he needed it to and for the most part, he had been too busy to go back and fix it. Luckily though, there had been just enough strength in the dosage to regenerate his eye instead. The vision was still weak and blurry but he wasn't going to complain about it, after all he'd much rather have bad vision over no eye at all. There was still a rather large scar in its place but it would disappear over time so he wasn't too bothered by it.

He turned the water off and stood there for a moment to let the loose droplets slid off of his body. Sighing, he grabbed the towel that had been slung over the shower door and wrapped it around his waist; stepping out of the shower, he pushed his pink hair from his face and ran his fingers along the split flesh on the back of his neck.

He honestly didn't even hear her when she had entered the room after he finished healing. Her presence was only known when he turned to find himself suddenly face-to-face with her. He remembered those green eyes lightly curious against his own as her fingers lightly touched at the visible facial scar; she didn't say anything then but her close presence was enough to overthrow words. It wasn't like anything was provoked or just one side made the fronting move, instead it seemed more like an agreed motion. He still kept the memory of that first kiss in the back of his mind; it had unwantingly remained there, settled deep in every thought and hidden in every word. It wasn't something easy to forget but it was something easy to want to recreate. He didn't keep his thoughts to just kissing her...but now, it was just something to think back on.

He had learned more about her in those hours than he had in the passing days. How was it that she was a completely different individual once the surface of her exterior was broken? He started to wonder if that stoic-faced Shinigami was slowly breaking her cold outer shell...

Slowly dressing, he adjusted the black sash around his waist before slipping on the uniform top; feeling the white material instantly cling to his still damp flesh. He pulled the collar up and around the scratch marks, going out of his way to make sure none of them showed through. Carefully styling his hair back into its usual place, he turned to go before stopping an unusual sense of cold energy spiked through the air. He took a few moments to see if the spike would repeat itself, which it did in several short successions. Although he remained silent and easily left the room, eventually leaving the entire building structure and entering the wrecked hallways once more, it seemed like his mind was a constant jumble of questions and no answers...

* * *

The source of the energy itself was fairly concentrated but as to tell who it was coming from was still unstable. And yet the energy profile itself seemed familiar; it was hollow and powerful. It had to be those returning from the Karakura Town battle, which meant they had to have won the fight if they were returning to Hueco Mundo. But it was too soon. They had to have been gone only a few days maybe and they were already back? It was impossible to have taken out that many Captains as well as the town itself in such a short period. That is unless they retreated. But that was impossible! There would be no reason they would do so; their pride would prefer them to die rather than run away.

"Tell me you have some kind of idea just what the hell is going on."

He looked up from his thoughts at the comment; catching Nnoitra just a few feet down the corridor from him. "Yes, I have a few ideas but I'm not really ready to share them at this point."

"Fucking scientist and their secret 'ideas'." Nnoitra muttered; crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the wall behind him. The energy itself was concentrated and centralized in this one area, which meant sooner or later a Garganta was going to open and reveal what exactly had happened in that fucking town. It wasn't that he didn't have any faith in the top three Espadas...well actually, he didn't, but they were all the same kind and that meant that if they were coming back this early then only victory was the reason. That is, unless the other Captains were going to come back for another round or two to try and avenge for their fallen comrades. But that itself, was also something he highly-fucking doubted.

"Something must've happened." Nell remarked; leaning against the wall space next to him. While she had been filled in on most of the current events, she was still curious on what the outcomes ranged from and about the consequences that would follow.

"Well they're either going to return in victory or in pieces; nothing in between." Nnoitra snorted.

"That's a bit harsh." Ulquiorra commented as he slowly joined the small group; his body was fully healed at this time and his torn uniform from before had been replaced by a cleaner, identical one. "But it's true nonetheless. However I do not doubt their abilities to achieve victory."

"You're acting like you have faith in them or something." Nnoitra replied.

"I never said that." Ulquiorra noted. "Only that with Starrk, Baraggan, and Harribel, victory is the only option they will seek."

Nell sighed restlessly at the two and ruffled her thick locks some. "How much longer will we have to wait before they arrive?"

"About now." Nnoitra answered; watching as the room lit up with a bright flash of light and energy.

A Garganta tore through the dimension fabric and opened up into the room in front of them; gusts of energy battled about and blew away any pieces of furniture that had managed to survive throughout the attacks. The high-pitched squeal of the energy stopped for a sheer moment as two figures dropped out of the large portal, which remained open but had eventually tamed itself.

Starrk hit the cold floor with a harsh groan as blood pumped openly from his massive injuries; instantly staining the marble-white floors a crimson color. His entire body felt numb... He could barely feel his limbs despite that they were still attached to his body. Pushing himself up, he could feel his energy-deprived lungs pant for air as though it would help ease the unforgiving pain that completely wrecked his body. His dark eyes looked up in time to see his partner roll onto her back; baby-blue eyes slowly dying underneath half-closed eyelids. It felt like he just teleported to her side as he pulled her limp body into his arms; her blood ran freely through his fingers and showed no sign of stopping any time soon.

"Holy...fuck..." Nell whispered; unable to turn her eyes away from the scene. The two couldn't have been there for more than just seconds and the floor was already washed over with blood. "I'll get some healers."

He could barely register the woman's voice or even her fading footsteps as she ran off to gather help; hell he didn't even question who she was or where she came from. All he could do was look at her... Her mid-section was ripped open to reveal the white, chiseled bones of her ribcage; blood bubbled free from the snapped tendons and ruptured muscle walls. Small cuts rippled across her slender body but all his attention was on that one injury; he even ignored her broken shoulder armor that gushed blood from a stab injury.

"Is he dead or something?" Nnoitra muttered; shifting his weight slightly as he pushed himself off the wall. "He hasn't moved since-"

"It was fake." Starrk whispered; not even bothering to look up to the others. "That...that town...they created a fake town in order to trick us. All of the Captains were there, at least all the ones who didn't come here first. They were strong...God, they were so strong...but we were giving them a challenge; we were making progress." he paused for a moment before continuing. "Baraggan didn't make it. The Captains received reinforcements and...They got him. I didn't think I was going to make it either...there was so much pain, I was almost certain I was dead. All it took was one hit from one Captain and I was almost knocked out of release. But we weren't losing; we were just...having some trouble..."

"Yo, is there some kind of shortcut you could take on this story and just tell us what the hell happened?" Nnoitra questioned.

Pulling his eyes away from the woman in his arms, Starrk glanced up at the Fifth Espada who seemed to wait impatiently for his next words; the contact was brief and he dropped his eyes back down. "Aizen did this..." he paused once again. "He almost killed her. If I hadn't stepped in...he would've killed us both for sure. Apparently...we just weren't good enough for him; none of us were."

"Fucking self-serving bastard."

"There's just pieces of him now..." Starrk humored mildly; though his face showed no sign of the emotion. He watched as a small group of healers were quickly ushered into the room and surrounded them. He felt them gently lift the woman from his arms and hurry out to start the healing process in a more private, secured location; those who attempted to heal him next were brushed aside. "If we weren't good enough for him then he should've just stayed with the Captains." he pressed one hand against his head, which throbbed like there was a marching band inside of his skull. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet and looked down at the number that was tattooed on the back of his hand. "He gave us numbers and made us hate each other."

"Yeah well...I still hate everyone." Nnoitra remarked to himself.

"Where are the others?" Starrk questioned; taking note that there were only three in front of him.

"They didn't make it." Szayel answered; watching as the First Espada turned to look at him. There was something in the man's eyes that almost seemed to hint at sorrow and emotions...but he wasn't sure if that was what he was really seeing. "Zommari and Aaroniero are confirmed dead. Grimmjow and Yammy are missing in action right now. Although you'll have to take it up with Nnoitra about what happened to Grimmjow."

"He practically threw himself in front of my sword." Nnoitra snorted; crossing his arms.

Starrk closed his eyes for a moment before nodding. "I'm glad to see you three are well then."

"Whoa...you're actually showing some emotions there Starrk, I would watch out for that." Nnoitra advised; slightly taken back by the man's comment. "Wouldn't want to start thinking you actually give a shit about someone, or thinking that the rest of us do."

"I..." Starrk started.

"And where's that little girl who used to follow you around? The really loud one." Nnoitra interrupted.

"Her name was Lilynette." Starrk corrected. "I split part of my soul to form her so that I wouldn't be lonely anymore. But now that I realize that I was never really alone, our souls merged back into one. She's no longer a separate form but... her soul is back with mine."

"Are you fucking with us?" Nnoitra asked. "All of this is...kind of out of character for you...I figured by now you would've been passed out sleeping or some shit."

"That does remind me, I could really go for a nap right now."

"No, no you're totally Starrk."

Szayel watched as the dark-haired man yawned and rubbed the back of his head, seemingly unaffected by his injuries the least bit. He started to speak but stopped after taking notice of the blood that gushed freely from the man's chest; his hollow hole was cracked along the side and seemed to have started to split open across his sternum, widening the black mass that inhabited the empty space inside. "How...your hollow hole's cracked."

"Oh this?" Starrk questioned; looking down at the injury. "Yeah one of the Captains managed to hit me."

"You should be dead."

"I thought the same thing."

"But he's not, it's a miracle." Nnoitra responded sarcastically. "So what the hell do we do now? Do we sit and wait for the rest of the Captains to come join us for this little 'tea party' of ours?"

"They have no reason to attack us now." Starrk spoke. "Aizen's dead, what more do they want? We were just puppets for him; toys for him to play with till he got bored and decided to break them. We were worthless to him, just something for him to experiment with till he got what he wanted. We sure as hell aren't going to do anything. There's nothing left for us to do aside from try to live out the rest of our lives in what little knowledge of peace we know. I'm tired of fighting...I'm tired of sitting back and watching people die. I want this to end."

"That was a very lovely speech but that may be what you want but you can't necessarily count that as what the Captains want." Nnoitra reminded.

"I know." he sighed. "I don't believe they will though. What reasons do they have now?"

"Well we uh...kind of killed some of them."

"And they killed some of us too; we're even." Starrk replied. "They still have a purpose for living, we don't."

"That's one way of putting it." Nnoitra muttered.

"Either way you look at it, he's put the ball in their court." Szayel remarked. "If they decide to attack us, then they'll carry the blame for it if more of their kind is killed. However, this option also gives them the element of surprise in ambushing us when we least expect it. They won't attack now or anytime soon, even if this is when we're most vulnerable, this is also when they're more vulnerable too. Both sides have been weakened, and I highly doubt either of us here could carry out a good fight, which means the same goes for them."

"Well aren't we all just little 'know-it-all's." Nnoitra scoffed.

"Don't be a dick." Nell commented as she rejoined with the small group. "So what's the plan?"

"Nothing right now." Nnoitra answered. "Just us sitting around and pretty much bitching, oh no wait, that's just you."

Starrk winced slightly as Nell sunk her fist into Nnoitra's abdomen. "Can we not fight for ten minutes here? I really just want to get some kind of plan in order so I can go nap."

"Here, why don't we wait for Harribel to get better first." Ulquiorra spoke; slowly joining the four of them. "We can rest some until she's well enough to join in with this discussion. If this is all that's left of us, then we'll want every available member to have their input in future decisions."

"I agree but...I think we'll have to wait even after she is well." Starrk started. "Her Fraccion members died; she'll be greatly upset about it when she wakes."

"This will seem like an odd question but...did you by any chance managed to get the bodies?"

"Well...yeah, I didn't even want to imagine what they might do to them if I had left them there." Starrk answered. "But why is that important?"

"Because what this guy doesn't tell most people is that his little 'girlfriend' can bring shit back from the dead." Nnoitra snorted. "So, as long as you have a body or like piece of it, then BAM! They're back. Am I right?"

"She can use her power even with just an image of the person as well." he corrected.

"So I was off by one but the fact of the matter is we can easily make up those losses." Nnoitra remarked. "Hey why don't you go get her and we can start doing that now seeing as we're just sitting around burning time like it's going to go on forever."

"Okay then." Ulquiorra nodded. "But you're going to have to be the one who pulls Grimmjow's body from the sand."

"Fuuuccckkk..."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yet another chapter I made unnecessarily complicated and delayed its posting. **

Starrk and Harribel were being healed.

Ulquiorra and Nnoitra were out collecting bodies.

Nell was with that girl, Orihime.

So that left him with plenty of time to finally sit down and rest before his energy completely gave out. In the last few days he had gone through going into release form, getting poisoned, being mildly injured, then being traumatically injured, having to deal with Nnoitra, and now was the struggle to figure out what to do next. All the action was enough to feed the migraine that ate away at what little remained of his patience and energy. He was honestly surprised he hadn't snapped already; the lack of rest and the dwindling ability to deal with the people around him often times caused the line between his sanity and his insanity to blur. Carefully kneading his temples, he leaned back against one of the numerous counters that were scattered across his lab. Then again, he was going to wait for Nnoitra and Ulquiorra to get back so he could get a sample of reaistu from each of the bodies. Not that studying it will do much good seeing as their respective opponents were dead, but it would help get a better understanding of a Shinigami's power; more specifically, a Captain's. He stretched lightly and adjusted his glasses before pausing briefly.

"This may sound like an odd question, but what exactly do you do when I'm not around?"

"I mostly just search around your lab."

He chuckled lightly and ran a hand through his hair. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Well I didn't say I touched anything."

"That's the part that frightens me."

She watched as he loosely crossed his arms over his chest at her approach but she noticed that those amber eyes never really locked onto her own; instead they seemed to just hover with a glance and that was all. Pausing just a few feet from him, she lightly mocked his stature. "So about before-"

"It was just a physical need." he interrupted; looking up just long enough to catch those green eyes. "That was it. You're used to some kind of physical contact and-"

"You desire it." she finished.

"I'm glad to see you caught on." he spoke. "Then again you're quick to evaluate a situation and pick the best option to solve it."

"And how do you know that?"

He reached up and lightly pushed against his glasses. "Because of how you acted when you walked in on me. I have theories that you detected my unbalanced energy and came to investigate, and you picked up on the separate vibe from there; it's also possible that when we briefly touched, you realized the easiest way to settle the energy and things evolved from there. I won't let on to everything I theorized about, seeing as there's no fun in letting out secrets."

"I've never meet a person whose energy can only be tamed through physical contact." she remarked softly. "I noted that with each pressing embrace, you grew calmer and your energy eventually fell back into what I assumed were normal levels; quite an odd reaction to say the least."

"With the exception of fighting, I'm a very physical person."

"I can tell; you use your hands almost as well as your tongue."

A light chuckle fell from his lips at her remark as he moved his hands to rest against the edge of the counter behind him. "And as timid as you seem, you make quite the bold movements. You're well-balanced anatomically but as for fighting, you use primarily your legs. The Quadriceps and Hamstrings are highly developed and allow for your quick, yet harsh strikes while your strong pelvis allow for an easy pivoting point for balance and spins."

"While your slender form disables most close combative moves, it helps enhance your overall speed and agility; you're moving fast enough to where you can create a false image to confuse your opponent." she spoke. "Just as well, while your hierro is fairly weak compared to the others and absorbs more impact from hits, it helps you gain more information on your enemy. You then turn around and use this knowledge against them. And although you are a non-combative fighter, and prefer to keep your distance, you still keep your body in remarkable shape. This could be for those few moments when an opponent gets too close, or maybe it's because of conflict with your fellow Espadas. It could also be because you're a Narcissist and you want the perfect body image."

"And just how do you know I'm a Narcissist?" he questioned; narrowing his eyes in slight curiosity.

"You're not the first one I've met." she replied. "Not to mention, it's easy to spot. You're also somewhat of a perfectionist and you don't appreciate it when other people step into your 'world' and get everything dirty."

"Well I do hate it when people forget to wipe their feet." he chuckled; adjusting his glasses for the moment. "You seem rather distance and emotionless on the outside and rarely display any type of expression whether you're engaging in combat or not. You seldom find pleasures in anything; even fighting does nothing for you. And yet…if the right thing happens at the right time…"

"You're quick to take control but you don't object to the idea of reversing that position. As much of a 'physical' person you are, you only allow those you approve of to get close to you, which is also something else that hints at your Narcissist-like behavior. You examine your opponents not just on the field, but off of it as well; I won't go as far to say the differences of the in-depth research between the two but…"

"We figured all that out with such simple touches?" he commented.

"I wouldn't say they were all simple…" she started. "Some were rather complicated."

He brushed aside several falling strands as he chuckled at her remark. "Tell me then Kurotsuchi, how do you feel about screaming my name?"

Those sharp amber eyes watched as she easily cleared the space between them and placed her hands against the counter edge behind him; those green eyes never left his own. "Like you said before, everything between us was physical; it was just empty emotions. However…I will go to say that I'm not the least bit ashamed for it, after all…I think you earned it."

He carefully tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before letting his fingers trail along her delicate jawline, which was only slightly bruised from earlier. "I think I like this new attitude of yours. After all, I'm no threat to you so you have nothing to fear from me; you're taking this moment to slowly crack open the protective shell you've developed and exercise that hidden, free will of yours. It's new to you just as well…is that why you're still hesitant to speak out loud?"

"Is that another theory of yours?" she questioned; feeling his hands carefully find their place on her hips.

"I don't know yet, I'm still working out some of the bugs." he replied. "But it's the closest thing I'm running with right now." he felt her lean into his touch; slightly closing the space between their bodies. "Seeing how this conversation is going though, I highly doubt either of us are going to be getting many questions answered."

She could practically feel his energy radiating from his fingertips as they pressed lightly, yet firmly, into her hips; it was a cool sensation that almost felt like it burned beneath her flesh. She took note that his eyes never once left her own as she made the final move to close the empty space between them. Her fingertips lightly dressed his jawline as she trailed gingerly back and forth along the cold flesh. "Just one more…" she whispered; feeling his warm breath touch at her lips. "It is just physical…right?"

He answered her with the touch of his lips against her own. She took in the soft embrace and closed her hands against his jawline; feeling his own hands move to press against the small of her back. Maybe it was the hint of his energy slowly coursing throughout her body or the tip of his tongue tracing over her lower lip, either way she could feel some part of her still longing for him. It was like he had this ability to not only change his spiritual energy to reflect his emotions but have it almost influence those around him. She remembered clearly how uneven his energy had been before; it seemed even after getting healed his body was in a worse state. Everything was unstable and she could feel his energy pulsing from several hallways away. It had been a strong, negative reading then but it was like as soon he saw her and the closer she got to him...it slowly evened out and changed. There was no way she could ignore how easily things changed when she got close enough for just that brief physical contact. How things changed and went from there...she couldn't exactly say. It started out with her touching lightly at the large scar that dominated over his left eye, taking place of the much larger wound that had been there hours before; then it carefully changed when his hands touched at her body, it seemed with the intent to push her away at first before slowly bringing her forward instead. She would never understand why he always seemed to want to push her away at first and yet draw her in at the same time. All she knew was that it went from fairly innocent observations to full-body examinations. He showed her that physical contact didn't always have to leave bruises or injuries; not to say that he didn't leave his own marks in the process.

She felt his hands reach up and cup her jawline for a moment as their embrace deepened; their tongues fully engulfed with one another's. It felt like boiling water was rising throughout her body as she curled her fingers into his flesh. A light presence stroked the edge of her senses and as much as she was almost enjoying their moment...she slowly let it dissolve between them.

"I believe some of your 'friends' have stopped by to visit." she spoke.

"How do you-" he started; as if on cue, he heard his name being called from somewhere within the building. A heavy, almost aggravated sigh left his lips. "Honestly? It's like everyone in here suffers from separation anxiety. Why must they constantly barge in and bother me?"

"That's for you to figure out." she replied; slowly removing his hands from her body. "But it would be wise to attend to their questions."

"Pft, it would be much wiser to ignore them all together."

* * *

"Perhaps he did not hear us."

Nnoitra snorted at the man's remark. "Whatever. He probably prefers hearing that little bitch scream his name instead."

Ulquiorra looked over at the much taller Espada before softly shaking his head. "Must you continue to make such remarks?"

"Don't even get me started on you." Nnoitra muttered; pausing as the two entered a large room. It was certainly a scenery change compared to the narrow, cramped hallways they had just walked out of but he was willing to bet that everything around them was probably just one big-ass illusion; after all, the scientist did seem to enjoy creating those. "Now where the hell is that little fucker? It's not like I've got all day to stand around and wait for this freak to decide when he wants to show up. I mean, we brought those fucking bodies here, like he asked, so where the hell is he?"

"Nnoitra, answer this for me, do you ever shut up?" Szayel questioned as he walked into the wide-opened area. He figured it was those two returning from their scavenging voyage and of course, leave it to Nnoitra to make a huge fuss over it. "Or do you just enjoy listening to yourself talk?"

"I actually prefer listening to people scream in pain, which is the noises you're going to be making if you don't stop being a smart ass." Nnoitra spat; watching as the man started to comment afterwards before he cut him off. "Okay so we brought the stupid bodies here, where do you want us to put them?"

"It would be great if you could put them in the morgue but..." Szayel started; taking heavy note that it was only the two of them...without the actual bodies. "Where exactly are the bodies again?"

"Some of them got heavy and we figured we'd get lost so we dumped some of them in pieces along the way."

Ulquiorra shook his head once more. "They're already in the morgue area; I assumed you would want them there to start off with. It wasn't an easy place to find but...the bodies are there when you're ready to dissect them...or whatever it is that you do."

"Yeah so whenever you get some free time away from that whore, you should look into getting those samples or whatever the fuck you were planning to do." Nnoitra added.

"I'm sorry, is 'whore' a word you learned by yourself or did Nell teach it to you?" Szayel remarked sarcastically; watching as the man's dark eyes flared up at the comment. "Anyway, gathering the samples of Reiastu shouldn't take too long so the bodies will only be here for a few hours at most, where exactly do you plan on resurrecting them?"

"With that comment, I'll go ahead and assume that resurrecting them here would be a bad idea then." Ulquiorra spoke.

Szayel chuckled dryly at the remark. "Needless to say, I'm going to predict that some of them, mainly Grimmjow, will be fairly violent once they wake up. And seeing as a majority of my lab was already destroyed in that Captain battle...I would very much prefer that the remaining parts stayed in one piece."

"Couldn't we just leave Grimmjow dead?" Nnoitra snorted. "I mean, he's going to be beyond pissed when he gets resurrected."

"No Nnoitra, he'll just mainly be pissed at you." Szayel reminded.

"Yeah, not really looking forward to _that_ conversation. You know, we could probably save some time and not bring him back because I'll more likely kill him again in the future." Nnoitra muttered; rubbing the back of his neck. "I've got other things to do then sit here and talk about dead bodies. So if you need me…well too bad because I'm not going to answer if you knock."

Szayel shook his head and watched as the taller Espada started to leave; leaving only the fourth Espada and he. "Ulquiorra, can I have a moment of your time?"

"What is it?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"I understand that our main motive in bringing back the others is for power in numbers and to reestablish our authority in Hueco Mundo. But what I want to know is…how did you convince that girl to use her powers for us?" Szayel spoke. "After all, you did kill her little friend; I'm surprised she would even acknowledge you at this point."

"Trust me, if she wishes to continue living her worthless life, she will."

"Well that's quite…interesting for you to say."

"You could phrase it like that." Ulquiorra spoke. "But do tell me, it's clear that we have Orihime's obedience but…what about the woman you have? How can we be sure that-"

"Don't worry about her." Szayel interrupted. "She was basically a servant in her previous life; this will be no different. While she was…bitter about her Captain's death, she went through the stages of loss, as predicted, and has slowly accepted the outcome. It's taken awhile, but she's fallen back into her old habits of simply obeying without question. Believe me, at this point, she should be the least of our worries."

"Just so we get things cleared here…you do have a way of keeping her in check and controlling her, correct?"

"I…" he started; stopping himself from answering the question. "As I said before, don't even worry about her; I have everything…including her, under control." he watched as the pale-skinned Espada took a moment before slowly nodding in agreement. "Now if you'll excuse me…I have those Reiastu samples to attend to."

"When you're finished, come find me and we'll move them to the healers' room; it is the furthest and most isolated place we have here."

"Good choice."

He watched as the fourth Espada turned and slowly started his way out. Stepping back, he separated onto his own path and headed back the way he had previously emerged from. Getting the Reiastu samples would only take him an hour at max but the others wouldn't be expecting him for several hours, which left him with plenty of time to spare and use as he wished.

His hands found themselves back against her hips as he pinned her between his body and the closest wall. "Now where were we?"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Interestingly enough, I highly enjoyed typing this chapter and I still like it as an overall piece. Noticed that I make minor time skips between each chapter though, I should probably try and fix that. **

There was a sickening sloshing noise as he ripped the organs free from the stomach cavity and dropped them into a nearby bucket that was already covered in layers of dried blood. The gel-like intestines conformed to the shape of their new confinement and squirted out fresh blood to spatter over the ground; a mucus-like substance coated each fleshy tube and slowly smeared over the abused surface of the bucket. Small blood bubbles coated over the entrails and softly popped to spread more crimson liquid.

Turning back to the half-carved out body in front of him, he scooped out the remaining shreds of the long intestine and let it drop into the bucket to join the other organs. He had finished getting those Reiastu samples a long time ago but spent some time dissecting the bodies he had put away in storage. As tempting as it was, he decided that it probably wouldn't be the best decision to dissect the other Espadas any more than he already had; it was a difficult choice to turn away from though. Reaching underneath the partly broken ribcage, which had been shattered in an earlier incident, he raked out the remaining organs and tossed them aside into a separate bucket. The smell of fresh organs and blood filled the cold air of the morgue; a scent he had long gotten used to. Carefully working open the large crack running down the center of the breastplate, he used it as leverage to break the ribcage clean open; listening to the sounds of the muscles ripping clean in half as tendon pieces snapped free from their places. He had already skinned most of the chest clean and stripped away most of the muscles but there was still plenty to cut through.

Sure he loved dissecting bodies, but sometimes there was more fun in completely obliterating them. He didn't do it often though, there was really no science in destroying a body, it was like wasting a good test subject; the need to completely obliterate a body was just…madness.

Changing his motive once more, he moved to where he had partly peeled the skin off of the top of the head; revealing the white bone of the skull underneath. Grabbing the small, handheld buzzsaw from the metal tray next to him, he turned on the instrument and used its circular razor blade to cut cleanly through the chiseled bone; listening to the sound of the blade chewing and gnawing through the thick skull. Cutting a clean line across the forehead, he watched as blood shot out around the blade and pieces of tissue became attached to the razor teeth. He made short work of the task, and watched as most of the disconnected skull piece wiggled open; he cut from basically ear to ear, leaving enough space for him to crack the skull open and remove the brain mass inside. Setting aside the electric tool, he cracked open the partly broken skull and tossed the top half into a nearby bin; listening as it clattered with the other broken bones piled inside. The pink-grayish mass inside was covered in a thin mucus-like material that coated his gloves when he carefully took hold of the brain; cleanly breaking off the brain stem just below the Cerebellum region. Removing the organ, he carefully balanced it in his hands and traced his fingers over the folds in the thick, yet sensitive tissue. The three-pound organ was shaped fairly symmetrical with the exception of darker, more rigid areas which could be caused by one of many things. It could've been a mild tumor or some heavy bleeding, which might've been the contributing factor in the Hollow's death.

"Do you always mutilate the bodies when you're through 'studying' them?"

Nemu watched as the Espada jumped slightly at her comment and let the brain slip out of his hands; the organ struck the ground and held a majority of its shape while most of the mucus layer splattered aside. He closed his hands together for a moment before he slowly released them a few seconds later; containing any frustration and anger for now.

"You couldn't…knock or anything?" Szayel questioned as he carefully retrieved the brain from the stained floor. The overall damage wasn't too severe, although some places had been ripped from their original placement; a few drops of blood slid free, confirming that some of the darker areas had been caused by hemorrhaging. "And no, this is not a normal occurrence. Half the time I don't even realize I'm tearing a body to pieces."

"Why do I find that hard to believe."

He let out a low, yet harsh, sigh and set the brain aside into a glass container that balanced on the metal tray behind him. "Was there something I missed? Is there a reason you're so curious about how I handle my studies?"

"We both come from Scientific backgrounds, I was just merely observing." Nemu replied.

"Right…I'm sure you're just dying to give me advice on how to do a better job too." Szayel remarked sarcastically as he looked over to the woman. He had been so immersed in his study and dissection that he had failed to even pick up on her energy; he should really work on stopping that. "Now is there something you want? I don't have time to sit around and baby-sit."

She took mental note on his sudden aggression towards her. "You never told me how you killed him."

"Yes well, it's impolite to brag."

Aggression and sarcasm. Lovely.

"Why do you want to know anyways?" he questioned; returning to his previous work on the ribcage.

"I have a right to know, don't I?"

"Answering a question with a question isn't exactly an answer." he spoke. "Besides, it's not something I'm obligated to tell you."

"And just why not?" she asked.

He grabbed a nearby surgical knife and slowly began to cut cleanly through the thin muscle wall covering just half of the broken ribcage. "Because it was my battle. But sure, if you want to know how I brutally murdered, decapitated and mutilated your Captain, then so be it. I ripped his throat out first, not just because it was the easiest to reach at close distance or the easiest to take out but so I could hear his worthless gasps for air. I remember standing over his worthless body before digging my fingers into the gaping cavity in his neck; it took quite some time for me to rip through the spinal cord but my success is clearly evident. Afterwards, I took my time in dissecting every piece of him and by dissecting I mean I ripped every piece apart. Kidneys, intestines, lungs, even his liver and stomach, but that was really just for fun. Oh, and I removed his heart. It wasn't the first time I've held one but...that one had a different appreciation to it. It was definitely something I thoroughly enjoyed; in fact, I almost regret not being able to relive that moment over and over and over again."

Cutting through the flesh and fat that collected on the side of the ribcage, he peeled back the skin to reveal the thinning muscle tissue.

"Go ahead and call me a monster, because that's exactly what I am."

She only stood and watched as he continued to slice the body into different pieces. Every now and then he would push on his glasses or brush aside his hair; smearing blood clean across his face and mixing it into his lighter strands. And for an odd reason…it all seemed very fitting for him.

"The body has a lot of bruising on it, was it killed recently?" she questioned; mildly changing the subject as she turned her eyes to the deeply bruised body that had been sprawled over the dissection table.

"If you had been in here ten minutes before, you could've heard him screaming." He replied calmly; cleanly breaking out half of the ribcage before letting it drop to the ground.

"You dissected him while he was still alive?"

"I do enjoy the ringing in my ears after they're done screaming."

**

* * *

**

The rush of cold water washed the blood off his body and out of his hair; letting the crimson liquid collect around the drain and leave behind red streaks that stained the white tiles. He ran his hands through his blood-stained hair and was careful to wash out every drop of blood that had clashed against his pink strands. As fun as a dissection was and how enjoyable it was to make a complete mess of the body, it was a bit unprofessional to take out one's anger on a worthless body. After all, the bodies were there for science, not to be used as a plaything.

Cutting off the water, he stretched for a moment and allowed for the loose droplets of water to slide off his body. He rubbed the back of his neck as a painful strain slowly crept its way up from his shoulders; more likely, it was from having to lean over the body as he first dissected it, and then tore it apart. It was probably just something he could sleep off later though. Grabbing the white towel that had been slung over the top of the shower door, he wrapped it easily around his waist and stepped out into the empty bathroom.

"You have an unstable mental disorder."

Her voice caught him off-guard once more.

"It's docile most of the time but it can easily be triggered by stress, anger and pain." she spoke; sitting on the small bench in front of the bathroom counter. Her eyes never strayed to look at him and instead chose to look forward. "I have a feeling there are more outside factors that can cause for the disorder to trigger but…those are the only three that I have witnessed so far. The first time was mild and caused by both anger and pain; this would count as the second time and I have guessed it was set off by a large amount of stress due to the overall affect of your situation. As a whole, the Espadas wish to resurrect their lost members, but as individuals some of you are regretting that decision; I haven't come to a solid conclusion yet but I suspect that the answer lies in the fact that most of you hate one another. The conflict with each other has dealt quite a blow to your patience and it wore down enough for your overall mentality to wane."

He stood there quietly and listened to every word she said before softly chuckling as she finished her overall statement. "Have you ever wondered why, despite my occasional outburst of anger and this 'unstable mentality', why I haven't killed you yet?"

Those green eyes flashed over to him as he slowly walked towards the door.

"It's because of that mind of yours; that intelligence that hides behind that quiet face and nice body. I did enjoy your nice speech there and for the most part, you're right." he complimented. "But you're also wrong. This is the third time you've experienced it."

Reaching the door, he paused slightly before pulling it open.

"Although I must comment, you are correct about the part where we dislike one another. I have to admit that I have only had respect for two people here. Although one was really only a mock respect and the other…well it's more personal."

"What do you mean by 'mock respect?'" she questioned.

"I think I just tricked myself into thinking I had respected him, but when he was killed…that's when I realized the truth. He was nothing but a mere puppet-player…someone we used to fear to even mention but now, it's more of a joke to think about him. We left ourselves vulnerable. Something I have yet to figure out why we did. We were afraid of his powers…but in the end, he was destroyed by ours." he paused once more before stepping out into the conjoining room.

"Aizen's dead, Kurotsuchi. I thought you might like to know that."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Hopefully I'll have everything explained in the next chapter for you.**

"Third time?"

He chuckled lightly as he finished pulling on his uniform top; he carefully adjusted the collar and smoothed out the wrinkles in the rest of his uniform. "I'm slightly surprised that you completely forgot about the rest of my words. You are quite the persistent one, aren't you? But I guess I should be glad you at least gave me enough time to get decent before you barged in here."

"You could blame it on curiosity." she remarked as she stood in the doorway of his bedroom. She watched as he carefully brushed aside his wet bangs, which slowly fell back into their usual style. "Not to mention I've seen you in less."

"Touché." he nodded; turning towards her. "Now what was it you wanted again?"

"You said this was the third time I've experienced it." she spoke. "What was the third time?"

He chuckled lightly before he walked over to where she was standing in the doorway. "You're asking the wrong question."

"Then what should I ask?" she questioned; watching as he easily moved past her.

"You should be asking, what was the first time you've experienced it."

**

* * *

**

The motion of breathing in caused his ribcage to rattle about painfully.

And yet the motion of breathing out left an even greater pain in his weak lungs.

Slowly opening his eyes, Starrk looked up at the empty ceiling above him. The white tiles were the same as they always had been; he had seen them plenty of times before when he rolled over after waking up from a nap. Why did they look different now though? They weren't physically different or even showed a change in color…no, they were the classic white theme. So why, after all these years, did he see them with a different perspective?

Because he had learned to live.

He had been taught to value life.

Before it was just a sense of dread to even get to his feet and leave the comfort of his room, and now…it felt like he had never seen these different parts of Los Noches. It felt like he was living in a stranger's home.

Is this what it felt like? To finally have something to value instead of something to hate. He had lived to hate his power, to hate his loneliness and yet…if it hadn't been for his strength, he would've been dead by now. The top three would've fallen so easily to betrayal; the remaining Captains would've fought and killed off any surviving Espadas…they would've destroyed Los Noches.

But he lived. He had the strength to fight off death and strike at Aizen; he had the strength to destroy Aizen…and save her. If there was anything he would've praised more…it was the strength and power to keep her alive. She was on the balancing edge of death, if he hadn't been there…he didn't even want to think of it.

"Starrk…are you awake?"

He broke from his thoughts at the sudden voice that addressed him.

"Your breathing deepens when you're thinking."

He couldn't say that he did it often, but a light smile found itself on his lips. "Harribel…it's good to hear your voice again. I'm glad to hear you're conscious."

The healing mattress just a few feet to his left squeaked as she shifted her position before letting out a heavy sigh. If he turned his head just enough, he could see the lower half of her form hidden beneath the white sheets. A small bedside table blocked him from seeing the other half of her.

"How long have we been out?" she questioned.

"I wish I knew." he shrugged; going to look back at the ceiling tiles above them. "My best guess would be a few days at least."

She sighed lightly and pulled the white sheet up to her neck; folding her arms over the top of the soft fabric. It had been a long time since she was last in the healers' rooms, in fact, it had been quite awhile since she was last injured to such an extent. She had been in a few scuffles now and again but never had she sustained injuries to this degree, especially if she had been out for a few days now.

"Do you remember what happened?" Harribel spoke.

"It's nothing to worry about."

She wrinkled her nose slightly and ran her fingertips over her large hollow mask; outlining each tooth and tip. "That doesn't answer my question."

"Aizen's dead…that's all you need to know." Starrk answered. "I don't want you to worry about it till you're better. After all, everyone will be depending on us to take lead and make decisions; we'll need all the strength we have for that." he raised one hand and pushed aside the loose bangs that had stuck to his forehead. "With Aizen out of the picture and Barragan gone…we're the only ones of higher power left. Will you help me?"

"I have a feeling that I owe you something, Coyote." she started. "When we get out of here, I'll try to remain as close to your side as I can."

"Thank you Tia."

**

* * *

**

He knew she was following him as he continued through his lab. Eventually, he entered the room where the only light was coming from his computer screen.

"I wish I could answer your questions on how Aizen was killed." Szayel spoke as he slowly dropped into his chair. "But as of now, only one person knows the answers to those and he's currently unavailable right now."

"Why do you think I had questions about it?" Nemu asked.

"Because I have questions about it and seeing as our backgrounds are one in the same, I made the prediction that you would be just as equally curious. Do tell me if I'm wrong."

"It would be a lie to say I wasn't."

"Good, then we're on the same page." He nodded; glancing out of the corner of his eye to see her figure standing beside him. "I'm surprised you haven't shown the least bit of emotion towards his death. Even with your stoic, empty nature, I slightly expected some kind of reaction."

"Why would I?"

"He did betray Soul Society and create a new breed of hollows which he later used to kill quite a bit of your Captains. Then again, I suppose I'm just getting ahead of myself." Szayel shrugged.

"How do you feel about his death then?" she questioned.

"I don't know yet on what kind of death he was served but I'm almost certain he didn't deserve it; he deserved one far worse than whatever happened." He answered. "For most of us here, we don't enjoy being used or being toyed with and it was very clear that that is exactly what he was doing. But again, like most of us here, we didn't bother with caring for it and instead opted to talk behind his back. A few were fairly loyal to him but the rest just put on masks and pretended."

"This goes back to the mock loyalty thing right?"

"Correct." He nodded. "But now that he's gone…I think we'll be just fine without him…"

**

* * *

**

"We were so stupid…we should've known that was going to happen."

Pushing herself up onto her arms, Harribel reached over to the table between them and pushed it over; watching as the small piece of furniture clattered onto the floor. "Let's face it, we all knew something was going to happen. We just didn't know when it would happen and we didn't know how it would happen."

"I always hated that table anyways." Starrk shrugged; propping himself against the pillows behind him. "But I suppose we can't do anything about it now…we just have to pick up the pieces and move on….that is a lot of pieces though."

Harribel stretched slightly before tossing aside her blanket. White bandages were wrapped around most of her midsection and around her breasts; shielding the former life-threatening injury from sight. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she looked down to see a clean uniform neatly folded on the floor beside her feet. And seeing as she was dressed in nothing else but her hollow mask and what remained of her black skirt from release form, she made sure to dress quickly. Tying the black sash around her waist, she took the uniform top and slipped it over her shoulders; taking a moment to touch at the bandages.

"What are you doing?" Starrk questioned; catching himself from falling back asleep.

"Like you said, there's a lot of pieces to pick up, which means there's a lot of work to be done, which means we need to get started now." She replied as she pulled the uniform top together and just barely managed to zip it up. The elastic spandex material was pushed to its limit around her breasts; leaving quite a bit of stretch marks across the white fabric. She carefully adjusted the collar to fit over her hollow mask before running a hand through her blonde bangs to slightly ruffle them up a bit. As much as she would kill for a shower right now, she had set plenty of other priorities above it. "Things aren't going to get fixed if we just sit around here."

"That means I have to get out of bed…doesn't it?" Starrk questioned.

"Yes and that means you need to start filling me in on what's happened since I was out." She replied as she slipped into a pair of black socks and then into her white sandals.

He sighed and reluctantly pushed himself up onto his arms. "From what I've learned…we've lost Grimmjow, Zommari, Aaroniero and Yammi. Los Noches took heavy damage but Nnoitra, Ulquiorra and Szayel were just barely able to keep it from reaching further destruction." Stretching, he felt the muscles in his back pull away from their stiff positions before he eventually pushed himself from the comfort of the bed. "And there was another Espada here…I didn't recognize her but…she had the number three on her back. That's all I remember of her, that and she and Nnoitra don't seem to get along to well."

"A three huh?" Harribel commented. "She must be one of the earlier Espadas who had been demoted. I didn't think they existed much around here."

He shrugged and ruffled his dark strands. "Maybe."

"So all in all, we lost five members." Harribel sighed; setting her hands on her hips. "That means there's going to be more work for the ones who survived."

Nodding, he eventually pushed himself up and slowly dressed into the new uniform on the floor beside his bed. Pulling up the middle of the shirt, he took note of the black cracks that remained around his hollow hole. "Odd…I thought that would go away with healing…"

Slowly walking over to him, she carefully examined the obvious damage done to the black hole in his chest; her fingertips lightly touched at the throbbing cracks that plagued his broad chest. "No…I don't think they will. In fact, you should be dead but at least now you have something to show off."

He watched as she stepped away and moved to step out of the room; allowing him to finish dressing for the moment. "Actually…I was hoping that would be you."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hopefully I'll be moving into a slightly new direction from here. I have some new ideas already planned out for the next few chapters, so hopefully they'll work out. Thanks for the reviews you guys!**

"Okay, I'm out of bed and dressed, now what?" Starrk questioned as he stepped out into the hallway where Harribel was waiting for him.

"We need to gather everyone together so we can get the full story of what happened while we were gone." Harribel answered; softly crossing her arms over her chest. "As well, we need to inform them of what happened in that fake Karakura town. As soon as we get the stories finished and the facts straightened out…then we can focus on moving forward."

"Gathering everyone together shouldn't be too difficult. For the most part, they stay in their own general areas." Starrk started. "Now if this is going to be a lengthy meeting…then we should probably try and find another suitable conference room." He caught a slight questioning look from her. "Our last one was destroyed…"

She sighed and lightly massaged her temples. "First they've killed a few Espadas and now they've killed our conference room."

Starrk chuckled softly. "We've gone through the worst of it already. Hopefully things will start looking up from now on."

"Why don't you go ahead and gather the survivors. I want to walk around and assess the damages for now." Harribel spoke. "This was our home…I have to see what they did to it."

"Very well…when I have everyone together, I'll come find you."

"You'll know where to look for me."

**

* * *

**

"I didn't know you could read."

Nnoitra snorted slightly as he glanced up from the book in one hand to the green-haired woman who stood in the doorway across from him. He shrugged and went back to the novel he had merely been skimming over. "Eh, I was bored and this was some book I jacked from Zommari's room; I figured since he's dead he didn't need it anymore."

"Well that's one of the many things to say." Nell remarked as she leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest.

He flipped through another page and barely skimmed over the words once more; at this point, he really wasn't even trying to read them. His dark eyes glanced up once again and took note that she hadn't moved from her recent position. "Is there something you want? There's this awkward silence with you staring at me and it's not settling over too well."

"I'm just surprised you haven't thrown out an insult at me yet." Nell replied.

"Yeah well, you know…this book is pretty interesting and you're not." Nnoitra shrugged.

"I spoke too soon."

"Actually if you didn't speak at all, that would be great."

Nell let out a quiet sigh when she shook her head before she walked over to where the taller man was slightly slumped down in a white leather chair. She set her hands on her hips and watched as he busied himself with the book instead of paying attention to her. "You know, the future of this place is going to hell if we don't figure out a way to get along."

"Well maybe if you left me the hell alone we could function like normal people." Nnoitra remarked; catching a slight scoff from her lips. "Or you know, you could wear something a little more revealing and maybe it'll distract me from your face."

A sharp laugh left her lips as she placed her hands on the arm of the chair and leaned in towards him. "I knew it. I knew that was all you really ever focused on."

"We've known each other for quite awhile now…you should've known this." he shrugged.

"You are an odd, odd man Nnoitra."

"My tastes are perfectly normal."

"Am I…interrupting something?"

The two glanced up at the question and took note of the dark-haired man now standing in the doorway.

Nnoitra snorted and tossed his book aside. "Nah, just Nell being a whore again."

Starrk narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the green-haired woman punch the fifth Espada hard in the face. "Uh…well when you're through here, we're planning a meeting in twenty; I expect you to be there."

"What? What meeting? And when the hell did you heal up anyways?" Nnoitra questioned; looking up in time to see that the first Espada had already long disappeared. "Nell, you stupid bitch, look what you did."

"He probably walked off so he didn't have to listen to your stupid questions." Nell snapped.

"Or maybe because you make every situation awkward. Now step away so it looks like you're not trying to hit on me, hoe bag."

**

* * *

**

She needed this.

She needed to show herself the price of life.

Standing in the doorway that looked into her own, personal room, Harribel slowly placed her hands against the woodened frames and braced her fingers against them. She had never been one for being social. Most of the time she said as little as possible to get her point across. But by closing her eyes, she could still hear the voices of her Fraccion members echoing down the hallways and around her room. There was always loudmouths Apache and Mila-Rose, who couldn't seem to have even a decent conversation without it escalating into a full-blown screaming match. And then there was Sun-Sun who was always willing to add fuel to the already burning fire. It almost seemed like the woman taunted the other two for the sheer fun of it.

She remembered having to hear them come down the hallway and break into her room to get her to settle an argument for them because Sun-Sun only made it worse. Sometimes it would take minutes to settle out the fighting and sometimes it took hours.

And now, she would have to face the silence of their absence.

"I'm sorry." she whispered; digging her fingers into the frame for a moment, she let her hands eventually fall back to her side. "I once promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I wasn't expecting to avenge your deaths so soon. You were supposed to live out your lives and be happy…but I couldn't protect you. I couldn't save you. And in the end…I couldn't even avenge you. I was weak. I was stupid. I thought I could handle myself but in the end, I wasn't even watching my own back…"

She tightened her hands into fists before she turned and smashed them both into the wall behind her; listening to the concrete give in and crumble inward.

"I'm glad you can't see how weak I was; how weak I am. I just hope one day you can learn to forgive me."

**

* * *

**

Slowly entering the large lab facility, Ulquiorra paused momentarily as he slowly took hold of his surroundings. From what he knew and from what he had seen up to this moment, the large facility building consisted of several larger laboratory rooms that were furnished with lab tables and counters; there was the morgue, which was filled with air-tight containers, body containers and blood-stained gurneys; and aside from several or more bedrooms-slash-holding cells, the rest of the place was made up of confusing and conflicting corridors. The Scientist had quite a knack for puzzles and mazes. If he remembered correctly, the man did once say what he enjoyed most was watching his victims run through room after room till exhaustion eventually stopped them; the victims would eventually realize that after all that time wasted, in the end, they made no progress. Of course that could've easily been mistaken for the man's interest in dissecting victims alive…but normally, he tried to avoid all those subjects.

In this one sector of the facility was the main testing area as well as one of the largest branches of corridors and hallways that connected together here. Making his way across the room, he kept his sight on the one room that emitted only darkness inside; the occasional glimpse of light was faint and dim compared to the rest of the brightly lit rooms.

"Szayel." he called; stopping at the doorway.

There was slight movement in the room before he watched as a figure pushed himself away from the computer and turned at the call.

"Can we speak?"

"Well I suppose I have no other choice but to." the man replied as he stepped out of the sudden darkness. He lead him a few feet away from the open doorway before he turned to face him. "What is it this time?"

"I stopped by to check on whether or not you were through with those samples." Ulquiorra answered.

"Oh yes…those samples." Szayel sighed; rubbing his temples slightly. "I finished with those a few moments ago; the bodies should be ready to be transported to wherever we planned on moving them next."

"Yes, to the healer's wing." Ulquiorra nodded. "However…I came by to say that there might be a minor delay in this motion."

"What happened now?"

"Well it appears that Orihime isn't exactly…up to the task quite yet."

Szayel narrowed his eyes slightly before dropping his hands to his side. "And why not? I thought you had this whole 'if she wishes to continue living her worthless life, she will' thing going on. Or let me guess, things changed right? If she's forced into this kind of 'misuse' of her powers, then several of our Espada members might just come back only slightly deformed."

"Do you always like to make predictions of future situations?" Ulquiorra remarked.

"Do you have to ask?"

Ulquiorra shook his head slightly. "Nonetheless though, it wouldn't hurt if we were to push back the resurrection date. It's not that she won't…I just don't think her powers are up to it just yet."

"Or maybe you're getting a soft spot." Szayel muttered; adjusting his glasses. "Either way, the longer I don't have to deal with Grimmjow, the better."

"Regardless, we'll-" Ulquiorra started; pausing for a moment as he caught onto the faint presence of someone else entering the same area.

"Why is this place set up like some kind of maze?" Starrk commented as he eventually appeared out of one of the corridors. "I had to take a nap halfway through just to get here."

"Why are you-" Szayel spoke.

"I'll probably need another nap just to find my way out." Starrk continued; rubbing the back of his neck. "I know it's sudden and will probably be a bit time consuming, but we need an immediate meeting in twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes?" Szayel repeated.

"Yes, and it's mandatory." Starrk nodded. "I really gotta catch up on what happened here."

"And what happened in the Karakura Town, correct?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"Yes, as well as everything that happened in Karakura Town. Harribel and myself may have some information that everyone here has been seeking but…I can't promise any of it will be good news."

"I'm sure we've heard worst somewhere along the way." Szayel shrugged. "Now if this is the end of your message here, why don't I just show you the way out so you don't stumble upon something…you probably shouldn't see."

"Pretty sure I ran into a couple of those about halfway here."

* * *

"Well this is new…"

Harribel turned back at the voice and watched as the dark-haired Primavera Espada walked across the ruins of the five pillars. Large concrete blocks were all that remained of the once majestic pillars that stood on top of Los Noches like lighthouses. She watched as he kicked a few pieces of rubble out of his way before he paused to look around at the mess around them.

"I figured if anything, this would be the place to talk." she spoke. "It's kind of like that last time for old times sake thing. Only this time…we can say whatever we want and seeing as we can do that, I assumed that we would want as much open space as possible."

"Good thinking." Starrk nodded; looking across the blatantly white plains that surrounded them on all sides. "I never would've thought about that."

"That's why I'm here, Starrk."

"I'll need someone to help make decisions when I miss a point." he chuckled; closing his eyes for a moment. He could hear the soft breeze making its way across the many sand dunes that formed what they could loosely call a home. "Listen. Do you hear that?"

She watched him carefully before she slowly picked up on the noises around them. "The sand?"

"Yes…I can't even count the many times I've actually stopped to listen to it. In fact, I doubt I really ever have before."

"I guess when your life is on the line and you're about to die in a foreign place…it makes you kind of miss what you already had." Harribel whispered. "I've lived here all my life…and never once did I think of this place as serving any kind of purpose for me aside from being a shelter."

"Just think…together we can make it a home."

She was slightly caught off-guard by the remark. "Starrk…"

"Damn, why do we have to climb all the way up here? Couldn't you have made it simple and have this fucking meeting somewhere inside."

"Well at least this way if you annoy anyone, we can just push you off the side."

"Nell…I would say the same to you but if your ass hit the sand from this height, we'd have to deal with sinkholes everywhere."

Harribel turned her attention to the voices and watched as the couple eventually walked into view. She recognized the hot-headed fifth Espada, but the woman with him was an unfamiliar face; it must've been the woman Starrk had talked about earlier. She watched as the two seemed to continue with their heated argument with little acknowledgement to either her or Starrk.

"You know, sometimes I wonder why I even bother talking to you."

"I really wish you wouldn't sometimes."

"I'm glad to see that you could make it, Nnoitra." Starrk spoke; interrupting their conversation for the moment. "I was almost afraid you were going to completely ditch out on us."

"Not gonna lie, I thought about it." Nnoitra shrugged. "But I decided against it; hell I even brought Nell with me."

"Is that your name then?" Starrk questioned; turning his attention to the green-haired woman.

"Actually it's Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck." she corrected. "I normally just go by Nell these days though."

"Or you can call her any demeaning thing you want." Nnoitra added.

"I've never seen you here before." Starrk commented.

"That's because there was a little incident a few years back that I would rather not discuss at this time." Nell sighed; setting her hands on her hips. "But if you want to get details of it, you can always ask Nnoitra for them."

"Bitch got owned."

Starrk narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the two get into yet another fight, which consisted of both verbal and physical violence. He stepped back slightly before he turned his attention to the presence of two more energies entering the air. He watched as Szayel and Ulquiorra eventually emerged onto the broken building top with the rest of them. "Looks like we're all here now. I suppose we can start this meeting."

"So what are we doing here exactly?" Nnoitra questioned.

"Harribel and I need to know what happened here. Who fought who, who died, anything that happened between the time we left and the time we came back." Starrk answered.

"Captain Kenpachi Zaraki." Nnoitra shrugged. "Also I killed some smaller Vice-Captain 'thing' he had with him."

"With some help." Nell added.

"Yeah whatever."

"Zommari was killed by Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, who I later eliminated after my victory over Ichigo Kurosaki." Ulquiorra spoke.

"Aaroniero was killed off by a Shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki." Szayel remarked. "I defeated Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi and crippled two Shinigami's and a Quincy; however, last checked the Quincy, several of the Shinigami's and one Captain managed to escape. As for the any other Shinigami's that remained in the area…they were quickly executed by the Exequias force."

"What Captain?" Starrk asked.

"If I remember correctly, it was Retsu Unohana, Captain of the Fourth Division." Szayel answered.

"I remember seeing her." Starrk nodded. "She's non-combative but I would not trust going into combat against her either way. Now what about the other two? Yammy and Grimmjow?"

"We can't necessarily say for certain what happened to Yammy, but it's possible he was taken out by the other Shinigami's before they were massacred." Szayel replied. "And as for Grimmjow…let's just say certain circumstances were raised and…he made the wrong move."

"And by wrong move, I mean he didn't jump out of the way of my sword in time." Nnoitra spoke.

"It wasn't pretty." Nell added.

"Are you saying…you killed him?" Starrk started.

Nnoitra shrugged mildly. "Yeah but it wasn't like it was completely intentionally; I mean, me hitting him, yes; him actually dying, not so much. But, the important thing is, we're not here to talk about worthless things like what happened to Grimmjow, we're here to discuss what happened with Aizen. How the hell did you manage to kill him?"

Starrk sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I don't know…I can't really say I remember anything."

"Wait, wait…you killed Aizen and you're saying you don't remember a DAMN thing from it?" Nnoitra snorted.

"Not a lot of it…it seemed like it was going by so fast." Starrk defended; sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. "All I know is that it took almost every Captain there to defeat him; I just got lucky and managed that last hit."

"That story…sucks."

"What do you want to know then?" Starrk asked; looking towards the taller Espada. "I saw him betray Harribel and then I just…I just snapped. I remember going to attack him and I remember striking him…but he had something he had kept hidden from everyone, including Gin."

"I never liked that guy." Nnoitra snorted.

"What exactly was he hiding?" Szayel questioned.

"The Hōgyoku." Starrk replied; watching as the group around him seemed to give little outward expression to the statement but each one became tense and uncomfortable. "I didn't believe it either…but he had it embedded into his body."

"The Hōgyoku was used to dissolve the boundaries between a Shinigami and a Hollow though." Ulquiorra remarked. "Was he planning on turning himself into a Hollow?"

"From what I heard and from what little I understood, it actually more…materializes the hearts around it…essentially materializing a person's inner desires." Starrk spoke. "It can turn a Shinigami into a Vizard and a Hollow into an Arrancar but just as well, it influences the decisions and actions of those around it."

"Well…that doesn't make any sense to be honest." Szayel commented; adjusting his glasses. "So you're saying is not only does the Hōgyoku turn Hollows to Arrancars and Shinigami's to Vizards, but it also has it's own will which it uses to materialize and influence the desires of others around it."

"To be honest with you…I don't know." Starrk shrugged. "I can't tell you necessarily what he said word for word; I didn't understand half that shit anyways. At that point, I didn't give a fuck about what he had to say…I just wanted to make him pay for what he did." he chuckled lightly and pushed the dark bangs from his face. "In retrospect, we should've seen this coming. All he wanted was an army and most of us here were willing to give into that sense of power and destruction but all he did was backstab us in the end. We were never strong enough for him."

Nnoitra snorted slightly and crossed his arm. "Yeah true, but look around you Starrk, do you see his ass here? That would be a hell-fucking no. Which would mean the difference between Aizen and the rest of us is that he's dead and we're not."

"Nnoitra, I think that's the most inspirational thing I've heard you say." Nell remarked in a partly sarcastic tone.

"Nell you don't even know what we're talking about; you don't even deserve to be in this conversation." he replied.

"Okay, before we start fighting again." Starrk interrupted; catching the two just before they started to go at it once more. "We need to figure out what to do here, in Los Noches. I'm sure we're all still fairly exhausted from our fights but…with our defenses as low as they are now, we can't risk the chance of some kind of invasion. I'm almost certain the Captains won't be tempted to provoke us now…but we have to remember that we're not the only ones who live in Hueco Mundo."

"You two may still be a little exhausted but I feel perfectly fine." Nnoitra replied.

"You almost got cut in half." Nell reminded.

"We are going no where in this." Szayel sighed with a shake of his head. "I see where you're coming from with this Starrk but as of now, I think we may be a little short on working hands around here. There's only six of us here but with your current injuries, I highly doubt either you or Harribel will be much help with reconstruction…aside from with the non-physical viewpoints of it."

"Which actually brings up another event we should discuss with you." Ulquiorra started. "After slaughtering off most of the Captains and fellow Shinigami's, we still managed to keep that healer girl in our possession…which adds quite the asset to our situation."

"Go on." Starrk nodded.

"She has the healing capabilities of bringing back those that are deceased." Ulquiorra explained. "Which means we can easily bring back those that were lost. In hindsight, we'll be regaining almost every member back, which should make reconstruction a bit easier to deal with…hopefully anyways."

"Is that what you and Nnoitra were arguing about earlier?" Starrk questioned.

"Unfortunately yes."

"He's mad because I was winning." Nnoitra added

Starrk closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his temples for a moment. "Alright well…for a first meeting, it was semi-productive. I guess I should be thankful we didn't get into a fight, which is what I was regretfully expecting. But at least everyone here is semi-informed up to date."

"One more question." Ulquiorra started. "Of the six or seven of you that went, are you and Harribel the only survivors?"

"Yes. Barragan, Tousen, Gin, Aizen and even Wonderweiss were all killed." Starrk nodded. "I'm still surprised we managed to get out of that alive with our injuries as severe as they were."

"Probably nothing more than a stroke of luck." Nnoitra shrugged.

"Whatever it was…I'm just glad we're alive." Starrk sighed. "Dying is not a pleasant feeling."

"Oh believe me when I say that most of us here are well aware of your viewpoint." Szayel remarked. "Captains don't go down easily."

"Alright well…I'm glad we had this meeting on such short notice." Starrk yawned. "In the meantime, I suppose we'll just wait for those resurrections to take place before moving forward with physical reconstruction."

"Now when you say 'physical' reconstruction…as opposed to what?" Nnoitra questioned.

Szayel shook his head as the two drifted off into their own little conversation; he, however, turned his sights to the cinnamon-skinned Espada who hadn't spoken a word the entire time. Stepping away from the others, he slowly approached the woman who seemed mildly distracted from the rest of the group.

"Quiet as always, aren't we Lady Harribel."

She snapped from her thoughts and looked up at the pink-haired Scientist who stood only a few feet from her. Her blue eyes carefully caught the differences in his features; taking note of the dark pink scar that ran over his left eye as well as some interesting scratches that just barely skimmed above his collar. "Szayel…to be honest, I'm surprised you're here."

"Just barely." he chuckled. "I wasn't expecting to go against a fellow Scientist but it was quite the battle; although it almost killed me, I must admit it's one of the best I've been in."

"Well I'm glad to have you here." Harribel replied; taking note that he seemed either mildly amused by her response or curious about it. "I have a feeling we'll need someone with your kind of thinking and brute honesty around here…not that I don't trust the others."

"If it's my brute honesty you like, then I'll have to make the remark that I'm surprised you still trust people." Szayel commented.

Her fingertips lightly touched at her scarred midsection for a brief moment. "There's a difference in the people here. We're all the same. We were all born from the sands and we'll die in the sands. At one point in our lives, we wore masks but at least we were strong enough to take them off."

He chuckled lightly and glanced over his shoulder; watching as Starrk and Nnoitra seemed to further escalate their conversation while Nell did her best to intervene before things got too out of hand. "It seems with the simplest words, you can make a single statement stand out. You were never afraid to speak your mind…that's why I've always respected you."

When the argument between Nnoitra and Starrk seemed to fizzle down, he turned his attention back to the female Espada in front of him; freezing for a moment as she moved closer to suffocate the space between them. Her fingers briefly touched the back of his neck as she leaned forward and lightly pressed her forehead against his own.

"Respect is a rarity around here." Harribel commented; holding the moment for several long seconds. She eventually let go and moved past him; leaving him partly confused by her actions as she walked over to Starrk, who had just stepped away from his conversation with Nnoitra.

He only shook his head; letting out a silent chuckle, he headed towards the only partly destroyed staircase that lead back down into the main building. "A rarity indeed."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Completely lost track of time on this chapter. About to start on a new idea I have for this story, so hopefully it goes over well.**

"You do realize how serious this is, right?"

"No Nell, I was born yesterday."

The green-haired woman glanced at the taller Espada out of the corner of her eye. By the tense features of his face, the rigid motion of his body and the whiteness of his knuckles, she knew well that he was merely bullshitting around with her; the thought of the recent news had clearly struck a nerve with the man and he intended on keeping the feeling alive. She turned her eyes back to the large building they were now entering; the exterior of the massive laboratory-like facility left a cold chill down her spine. It just looked like a place where people came to die in horrible, science-fun ways. While she wasn't one to follow, she opted to let Nnoitra lead the way through the eerie doorway and into the freezing building. The place just seemed like a winding mess of corridors and tunnels, a method that seemed quite fitting for the Espada…

"Yo Szayel!" Nnoitra called; stopping as the two entered the larger, central room once more. "You know, when you're through with that Shinigami bitch, we have something to discuss."

"Must you be so rude?" Nell snorted; fixing her hands on her hips.

"It's the only way to make him listen." Nnoitra shrugged.

"No Nnoitra, there's plenty of ways to make me listen, I just choose to ignore you most of the time. To be honest, your relentless, rude chatter takes up a lot of my time."

"You know, sometimes I think you just want to get your ass kicked." Nnoitra remarked; turning to face the pink-haired Scientist who stood behind them. "And as much as I would love to continue on with that subject, there are more important things to discuss here."

"Well then, go on, you have my attention for now."

"I'll give you the run down on it." Nell intervened. "Apparently word got out that Aizen's dead and well… some of the Hollows out there aren't too pleased with that; it also doesn't help that they figured out Starrk killed him."

"Well I'm not surprised by that." Szayel replied. "He did pretty much promise power and salvation to those who would remain loyal to him, which was quite a large number of the Hollow population. Now that he's dead, they feel as though their potential for strength has now been erased and needless to say, it's not going over too well with them."

"And seeing as he was killed by a Hollow…it's not helping our case." Nell shrugged. "If they were to become violent over this, there's nothing we could say to avoid a conflict. I doubt they'll believe us if we were to say that Aizen was just using us this entire time; they're blinded by their still excessive need for power…much like most of former Espadas here."

"They're just mad because they're Arrancars and we're Espadas." Nnoitra spat. "They'll probably bullshit something about loyalty to Aizen and whatnot; you know the shit we didn't give a fuck about. Hell to be honest, I'm surprised Ulquiorra hasn't gone around and murdered us all in our sleep."

"Please explain to us why you had to make that comment." Nell spoke.

"He was always acting like some kind of lapdog if you ask me." He shrugged. "I'm still going to keep an eye out though…I don't necessarily trust him just yet."

"And this is the reason why we can't move forward." Nell sighed. "No one can trust each other, but then again I can't say I truly trust anyone here either."

"It's in our nature to be skeptic and suspicious of one another." Szayel shrugged. "Face it, this entire time we've been pitted against each other to determine who's the strongest and who gets to keep their number; needless to say…those lines have often times been crossed." He watched as the two in front of him seemingly glared at one another. "But to move on to more important things…how violent has it been so far? Something had to obviously tip us off to their actions."

"There was a rather large energy reading out along the horizon this morning." Nell answered. "The two of us went to check it out and it turned out to be a collection of Arrancars. As far as we could tell, without getting too close, they were just going around slaughtering Menos and other Hollows. I assumed they were just taking their anger out on those closest around them, or those of lesser powers."

"Either way, we'll want to keep a close eye on this situation." Szayel nodded. "It could just be a mere and minor incident or it could escalate into something that no one wants."

"Well if it does escalate into something, I'm going to kill any Arrancar who even thinks of getting in my way." Nnoitra remarked.

"I highly doubt killing them is going to be the proper way of solving this." Nell reminded.

"Does it look like I give a fuck?"

"Have you at least informed Starrk of this?" Szayel questioned.

"We were going to…but he was sleeping and I didn't feel like waking him up." Nnoitra shrugged. "Well actually I was going to but Nell said it was a bad idea; I don't normally listen to Nell but I actually thought that one through. I've never seen Starrk get mad, or show really any emotion, but I figured he wouldn't enjoy his nap being interrupted."

"Have you spoken to Harribel about it then?" Szayel asked.

"Couldn't find her either." Nnoitra replied. "So we figured the next best person to tell, would be you. Not really actually, we couldn't find Ulquiorra either but then again I didn't really try to look. But I figured if there was anyone here who needed to know about all this chaos going on, it was you."

"Oh goody, I'm glad to know that if anything does go on around here, I'll be the last to know." Szayel muttered.

"Well this would be a hellva lot easier if Aaroniero was here but guess what, he's dead and there's nothing we can do about it." Nnoitra spoke.

"Nothing we can do now anyways." Szayel sighed. "But until Ulquiorra gets that girl to actually use her powers, we'll just have to wait it out."

"Maybe if he would stop fucking her-"

"Nnoitra." Nell interrupted as she roughly kneaded her temples. "Let's just keep focused on our current problems for now. Okay, so we can push back the date on that resurrection thing…again; I don't blame the girl for being hesitant in using her powers, she did just see most of her friends and comrades get slaughtered. As for these chaotic Arrancars, we're just going to have to keep an eye on them; I don't think anything's going to get too out of hand but just in case it does-"

"We're going to put them back into their places." Nnoitra finished.

"That wasn't it."

"We should at least obtain some more observation data on them before we make any concrete decision." Szayel offered.

"Fuck, can't we just go in there and kill them? We all know they're going to eventually start some kind of riot." Nnoitra snorted.

"No we can't." Nell sighed. "Nnoitra, your solution to everything is just go in and kill."

"Yeah and it's worked so far."

"Just because your ass is alive now, doesn't mean it's not going to get kicked later." Nell warned.

"Pft, like I have anything worry about."

"Look, if you two are going to start fighting again, why don't you take it outside and give off a bit of your own energy to let the all of Hueco Mundo know what they're dealing with." Szayel remarked with a spark of sarcasm. "It would be best though if you were to locate Ulquiorra at this point; his opinion would be needed in this matter."

"I think I liked it better when we relied on only ourselves." Nnoitra muttered.

"Yeah and look where that got us." Nell reminded. "With our heads half way up our asses and most of us on the brink of death. If you ask me, it doesn't sound like a nice way to live; I think I'll stick with this way for now or at least till someone screws up."

"Looks like I have a new meaning in life."

Szayel sighed as he watched the two eventually move past him on their way out; their words lightly echoing behind them as they furthered their argument down the corridor behind him. He closed his eyes for a moment and adjusted his glasses; taking a deep breath, he slowly let it out to ease the oncoming headache. Of course, leave it to the other residents of Hueco Mundo to completely fuck up everything that hadn't been screwed so far.

"Aizen had a sense of fearlessness about him…that's why Hollows of lesser power, and possibly lesser intelligence, sided with him; when you're born out of pain and fear…you'll give anything to experience that kind of power. That's what made us blind."

"Is that why you joined him?"

He paused slightly at the question. "For the most part, yes; he did change me from a Hollow to an Arrancar after all. But after that, I just chose not to intervene in to his plans and stood off to the side. It was much easier just to stand on the sidelines and nod every now and then, rather than get involved like Ulquiorra and Grimmjow did."

"Did he change everyone here?"

"Not all of us but most of us." he nodded. "The Espadas before us were natural but they were replaced when those who had been artificially turned proved to be much stronger. It's a cutthroat world…from the moment you're born here, it's all about survival."

Carefully pushing herself off the wall behind him, Nemu slowly walked over to where he had stopped with his back to her. Her eyes taking note of his slightly tensed features, such as the muscles in his back and shoulders, as well as his hands that had been pulled into fists. "So what do you plan on doing then? For this whole…rebellion thing?"

"How long were you exactly standing there?" Szayel questioned; turning around to face the woman.

"Long enough."

"Clever." he sighed. "Well to be honest, as of now, I'm not too worried about it. It's common and predictable to assume that there was going to be conflict over this. However, I don't think it's going to just fizzle out. I do believe Nnoitra might actually have made a point in this discussion…the only way to get our point across is to put the Arrancars back into their place. The only thing I can think to worry about is if they were to 'rebel', we can easily out-power them but they could just as easily outnumber us."

"How many Arrancars are there?"

"Last checked, they were numbered eleven to ninety-nine." Szayel answered. "However, they lost a few in earlier battles so that drops their numbers down a bit…but not quite as much as our numbers dropped. They can afford to lose ten or so members. At this point, we can't afford to lose one."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hopefully I won't have to keep repeating the same lines over and over again. It should be getting more into the action by the next chapter. **

"What's going on?"

"Okay, now before you go into a panic attack and kill us all, just listen." Nnoitra snorted; watching as the Primavera Espada seemed to calm himself down a bit. So maybe barging into his room to announce that there was going to be a rebellion was not the best idea in mind…but it certainly got his point across. "Nell and I did happen to see some Arrancars who were not happy at the fact that Aizen's dead…nor were they happy with the fact that you killed him, but that's aside the point. The point is we may or may not have a small to moderate rebellion on our hands."

"Nnoitra and I went scouting out a bit after we spoke to Szayel." Nell stepped in. "We managed to avoid close contact with the so-called rebels but it does seem like they are planning something. While Nnoitra here wanted to confront them, I decided that we should get more observation data on them…which lead us to overhear some of their plans of starting an actual rebellion."

"So…they're mad that Aizen was killed by a Hollow, is that what you're saying?" Starrk questioned.

"Well really they're pissed off that you killed Aizen because you're the first Espada, the so-called 'strongest' and you just did it so that no one else can achieve your kind of power." Nnoitra corrected. "Also they think you're a self-righteous asshole who wants Hueco Mundo for yourself."

"Fuck…" Starrk sighed; closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to think over the situation. "Did you find out anything else?"

"That's all we could get before it became too risky." Nell answered; watching as the first Espada seemed to have a hard time grasping their current situation. "We're going to try and get more information later on…if things haven't fired up again."

Starrk nodded before he looked back at the two. "Thank you. We need to stop this problem before it gets out of hand."

"Just go out there, kill a few who dare to make a challenge and bam! Problem solved." Nnoitra remarked. "Leave a few bodies out in the desert to warn the others and they'll get the hint real quick."

"Killing them isn't going to get us anywhere." Starrk replied. "If anything, it's going to make the situation only worse and that's what they want."

"Jeez, when did everyone get so humane over this shit?" Nnoitra spat.

"Ever since we took back this place." Starrk remarked. "We just have to remember that that was us at one point in our lives; I can see where they're coming from but their overall execution overthrows what they want."

"No…no I think they want to overthrow us, or you at least." Nnoitra commented. "If anything…they just want that feeling of power back again."

"It's just…ugh…" Starrk groaned as he put his hands to his thundering temples. "I'm going to go speak to Harribel about this and get her input…maybe then we can figure out what to do."

Nnoitra watched as the first Espada moved past them and disappeared out into the hallway. "I have plenty of ways we could do to solve this."

"Are any one of those ways not involved with killing or brutalizing their bodies?" Nell asked.

"Well now see…you just took the fun out of it."

"Yeah well we're the ones in control now which means we have to start acting with a clear head and at least attempt to solve something with our brains and not our muscles." Nell remarked.

"Pft, you know if Barragan was here, he would've told everyone to get off his lawn and then killed everyone; actually it probably would've been the other way around. He would kill everyone and then complain about the bodies in his lawn." Nnoitra snorted. "He was a crazy old man like that. I think I might just miss having him around…not."

Nell scoffed slightly before she patted him on the back. "For a moment there Nnoitra, I actually thought you gave a shit about someone else."

"Nell, you should know me better than that." Nnoitra shrugged as he turned to leave. "Well we should probably try and find Ulquiorra so we can at least have half of Los Noches in a panic."

"Yeah but you would enjoy that too much." Nell reminded as she slowly followed him out of the room and out into the hallway. "Besides I think there's enough panic out in Hueco Mundo to account for the people here."

Stepping out into the hallway, he closed the bedroom door behind them and looked around for their next objective. "You know, if this rebellion thing does end up at our doorsteps, this whole place is fucked. It's balancing on pebbles and toothpicks anyways."

"It's lasted this long, maybe if we pray it'll keep holding up." Nell assured.

"Pft, praying is for ignorant people."

"Pft, says the praying mantis." she mocked; watching as he narrowed his eye at her before he decided to turn his attention to something else. She looked up at the sound of voices arguing and watched as two more figures appeared around the distant corner; judging from their outlines, and knowing well that Starrk had already left to speak with Harribel, she sighed as she lightly elbowed Nnoitra in the side. "Looks like this is going to be a long day."

"Tell me, are these so-called rumors true?" Ulquiorra questioned as soon as he neared the other two Espadas. "Is there really speak of such an…outburst? A rebellion as you've marked it up as?"

Nnoitra snorted slightly a the man's tone. "So condescending are we now? Well maybe if you had considered pulling yourself away from that…girl for just a few seconds, you would've been able to pick up on those energy waves. But no, sure I completely understand that you're distracted more by motion waves, but fuck…why don't you at least try to understand the obvious things here."

"Well this was a lovely start." Szayel muttered; standing beside the white-toned Espada.

"What Nnoitra is trying to say here is-" Nell started.

"I said exactly what I meant to say." Nnoitra interrupted. "I don't need you to interpret it for me. But hey, if I could get distracted from the obvious civil unrest that plagues the horizon with a nice, smoking body to accompany me, you bet your ass I would."

Ulquiorra merely blinked at the man before he moved his arms to cross over his chest. "Why don't you explain it to me then. If I'm so…hopeless on figuring out what's going on, why don't you help me understand it."

"There's been a lot of restlessness with the other Hollows out in Hueco Mundo. Nell and I went in to check it out and it seems like they're just not happy at all with the shit that's been going on here. They're pissed off that Aizen's dead; they're even more pissed off that Starrk killed him; they're even greatly pissed off at the fact that we're getting rid of pretty much everything that Aizen did do. The point of the story here is that they are fucking pissed off and may or may not retaliate." Nnoitra spoke.

"Then we need to figure out a way to solve this before it gets out of hand." Ulquiorra spoke. "Did Starrk have anything to say on the matter?"

"Yeah, something that we should try not to do physical harm on them because it's a natural reaction." Nnoitra shrugged. "But I think we should kill them. That'll teach them what line not to fucking cross."

"If Starrk has already made a decision on the matter, then we should go along with what he says." Ulquiorra replied. "I agree with his logic. If we attack them, that only furthers their point of retaliation and it gives them what they want. And what they want is an opening. We can't risk to fall for their tricks."

"Well of course _you_ would agree with him." Nnoitra snorted.

"And just what is your cause for that statement?"

"You're a fucking lapdog, that's my statement. You're like a fucking 'yes man' who pretty much acts like a worthless drone just waiting for someone to tell you what to think. You did this shit with Aizen and it's fucking pissing me off again."

"We didn't come here to sling words and fight, okay." Nell intruded; putting herself between the two. "Now there is a dire situation starting to arise and we need to fix that one first. Maybe when it's through you two can go out back and beat the living shit out of each other but for now, we solve this problem." she watched as Nnoitra merely sneered at her remark but remained quiet nonetheless; Ulquiorra only shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands back into his pockets. "Okay, now that's more like it. Now then…if we go with Starrk's idea of-"

"Aw fuck, are you serious?" Nnoitra growled. "How do you expect to go along with not killing them? Maybe that's what they really want. Maybe they just want us to think that leaving them alone is going to solve this and then you know what's going to happen? You're going to find yourself waking up in the middle of the night with about twenty different Arrancars waiting to rip your throat out."

"Maybe what they really want is to stage a mock unrest so that we'll all start fighting and eventually slaughter one another, which in turn will leave Los Noches completely open." Szayel remarked; interrupting the rather large outburst that had erupted itself between the trio. "The fact of the matter is, we don't know. We don't know what they're trying to get us to do and frankly to say, we don't know what they want either. But whatever it is…I don't want to find out." he paused for a moment before he sighed lightly. "As much as it pains me to say, I'm going to have to agree with Nnoitra on this one."

"At least someone else has the right fucking idea." Nnoitra muttered

"Let's not jump to conclusions here." Nell sighed before she turned back to Szayel. "Okay, well you're a Scientist and you've probably given this a lot more thought than you did earlier. What's your reason?"

"If someone were to tell you that what we did was wrong, if killing both Shinigami's and Aizen was a big mistake on our part, would you believe them?" Szayel questioned.

"No. We did what we had to." Ulquiorra answered. "As for killing Aizen…Starrk was put in a difficult position of both being killed and being betrayed, there was no other choice but to take Aizen out. He did what he had to and followed his instincts."

"So nothing I said would change your mind then?" Szayel continued.

"Where the hell are you going with this?" Nnoitra snorted.

"The fact is, nothing is going to change their views." he explained. "Those other Hollows already have it set in their minds that the only ones who are wrong…are the ones standing right here; us. And if they've already reached this point in their actions, then trying to talk to them is already out of the picture. That's why…the only way to solve anything at this point is to kill them if they get too close."

Nell nodded lightly and curled her fingers over her hips as she shifted her weight to one leg. "See Nnoitra, now that's called actually thinking something through instead of just blurting out the first thing that comes to your head. Regardless however…I still have to disagree. Killing them is only going to anger them further."

"There's only one other option aside from killing." Ulquiorra spoke.

"Yeah but I don't think those bitches deserve to live." Nnoitra commented.

"Everyone deserves to live." Nell spat. "You're just too ignorant to realize that."

"I was actually going to say that to avoid the option of killing them, we can always resort to just possibly injuring and crippling them instead." Ulquiorra continued. "If we cripple them enough to where they can't fight back, than that will show them that we understand their views but also leave open the option that we're just 'putting them back into their places.'"

"It still sounds a bit harsh." Nell commented. "But I would much rather stand behind that than slaughtering them in cold blood."

"You know, one of these days, your little warm-blooded self is going to find itself in the wrong by thinking everyone here is good until proven otherwise." Nnoitra spat.

"Oh believe me, I already know that; you're a prime example that there are still too many assholes in this world." Nell fired back.

"And this a prime example why we can't have anything nice here." Szayel remarked. "As well as a prime example that eventually we're all just going to start repeating this same argument over and over again till this problem comes knocking at our doorstep. I can't even tell what's going to be worse at this point: the arguing or the actual fighting if it comes down to a rebellion."

"This is one of the many times in life where we're just going to have to wait and see what happens first." Ulquiorra sighed; watching as the pair continued to fight back and forth. "And hopefully whatever does happen, isn't going to be kicking our asses later on."

"Too true." Szayel nodded before he stretched lightly. "But if we're through here, then I'm going to go back to my lab now. It seems like the only way to get a moment of solitude around here is by being dead and I already missed out on that chance."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Just the start of some massive fight scene chapters. Hopefully it doesn't get too boring. **

The tip of his blade cut cleanly through the body in front of him; flesh ripped in single lines at the sharp edge as bones splintered apart at the sheer force behind the graceful sword. The body twisted at angles made for a contortionist before it collapsed to the ground in a wordless, soundless death.

"Please tell me there's a good reason as to why you did that?"

Nnoitra snorted slightly before he let his sword slid back into its place. "I don't know Nell, since when did I need a good reason to kill something?"

"Well considering our current situation and all the circumstances that surround it, now would be a good time to start coming up with decent reasons." Nell replied; sighing lightly as she walked towards the man. She had picked up on his energy spikes and practically tore through half of Los Noches to see what was going on. And of course she would run out just in time to see him practically cut an Arrancar in half.

"Eh, then I'm going to play the self defense card." Nnoitra shrugged sarcastically as he rubbed the sore side of his face. "I'm pretty sure that asshole just knocked one or two molars loose."

Nell sighed as she eventually closed the space between them and stood in front of him. "I highly doubt even the stupidest of Hollows here would go up against something twice their height but then again, you never know. Now come down here so I can check your injuries."

"Pft like that little piece of shit could get a hit on me." Nnoitra snorted. "Asides, I have the strongest hierro here."

She watched as he rotated his jaw slightly before he eventually spat out part of a broken tooth. "I will take your word for it."

He snorted slightly and shrugged it off. "Let me guess, you're going to suggest that we go talk to the 'others' so that we can get this 'situation' under 'control', right?"

"You said that, not me." Nell replied. "Although you might want to work on your reason as to why you-"

"What's going on out here?"

"Why is there a dead body?"

"Were you two behind this?"

The two turned to see Starrk, Harribel and Ulquiorra walking towards them.

"Oh well isn't this going to be a nice little party." Nnoitra snorted sarcastically. "Why don't we just set the body on fire and have ourselves a bonfire."

"Nnoitra, can you answer the question." Starrk replied.

"Yeah I guess. Nothing's happening out here anymore, and there's a body right there because I killed this hollow just a few moments ago. Also Nell just showed up a couple of seconds ago but I think she's trying to take away my glorious kill." Nnoitra shrugged; earning a sharp elbow to the gut from the woman.

"Why did you kill him?" Starrk questioned.

"Because he attacked me first and I'm not just going to step aside and let a punk-ass little Arrancar try to show me up." Nnoitra answered. "I will comment that the fight lasted longer than I expected but still nothing short of being pretty weak."

Starrk sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Well looks like the worst-case scenario finally happened. Can't say we didn't expect it."

"Then we'll have to make our decision here and now." Harribel spoke.

"Well I just like to say that I think I've pretty much already put our foot in one direction." Nnoitra replied. "A good direction too."

"I would really hate to imagine what I just missed out here." Szayel remarked as he stepped out into the open sands and joined the small group.

"Do I even want to know why you're so late?" Nnoitra questioned.

"It's a long walk to get here and needless to say, I was really in no hurry." he shrugged. "But as interesting as you find me to be, we should really discuss about the real problem at hand. It's very apparent that we're not going to get out of this situation without causalities…hopefully from just the other side. This isn't even the beginning though."

"It's going to get a lot worse from here." Nell sighed.

"Well actually, it's a good possibility this guy was just a distraction because they knew we would all come running out to see what the commotion was." Szayel replied. "In fact, they probably knew that Nnoitra would be the best person to try and isolate; his energy wave would be enough to have us all worried. And thus, leave our backs to Los Noches, which would be open to attack right about…now."

As if on cue, a burst of energy exploded to the west of their positions and was followed by a short explosion that left the concrete wall completely obliterated. Smoke wisps floated up towards the artificial sky in large migrations of dark clouds. Red flames surged upwards like hands that offered a newly massacred sacrifice.

"That would've been great to know a few seconds ago." Nnoitra snorted. "Now we'll have to pick up that mess when we're through with picking Arrancar pieces out of our fists."

"I'll go and investigate on this." Ulquiorra spoke as he stepped back. "I should be able to hold them back long enough for everyone here to make a final decision on this matter."

"I'll accompany you." Nell offered as she followed after the pale-skinned Espada.

Starrk sighed as he watched the two disappear before he turned back to the three left. "Okay, we go with Harribel's plan and make a decision now."

"Why don't we just get you to walk through the group of them? Your energy should be strong enough to kill all of them. Flawless victory right there." Nnoitra suggested.

"It's not going to work that way." Starrk replied.

"The only way to get anything through their dense ideals is to get rid of a majority of them." Harribel started. "So here's the only thing left for us to do: we go out there and kill any Arrancar who encounters and advances on us first. They should catch on to the lesson fairly quick and it will remove any doubt that we're just going to let them have it easy."

"A few deaths aren't going to deter them." Szayel agreed. "If anything, we'll need to destroy at least more than half of their army."

"Well that shouldn't be too bad." Nnoitra remarked. "In fact, I think I'll get a start on this new plan of ours right now."

"You already did." Szayel reminded.

"Whatever, that was the distracter…he doesn't really count."

Starrk glanced back as a second, larger explosion occurred to their other side. "Well shit. This place is balancing on tumbling blocks enough as it is. I highly doubt it will last after this…"

"Well us standing around isn't going to help." Harribel spoke; fingertips running along the hilt of her sword. "We split up and hit the hot spots. Spare no one from your blade. If they take off running in the opposite direction, you let them run. Let them show off their injuries to their friends, it will only help our cause."

"You get violent when you're angry." Nnoitra commented.

"We need to keep ourselves from getting distracted here." Starrk spoke. "They've already made loud commotions to get our attention, which means they'll be planning something to draw us away from their next target. Harribel and I will do what we can within the dome…most of the fighting will be put on you two though."

"Ha, well then you guys are fucked." Nnoitra chuckled. "Everyone knows Szayel can't fight."

"And everyone knows that Nnoitra's a retard." Szayel added. "I originally wasn't going to make a comment but at this point, maturity isn't a major factor."

"Well you better fix that and fix it quick." Starrk sighed. "Now let's stop wasting time by sitting around. Harribel and I will start at the healing wing before they strike there. I want the two of you to follow up on the next largest concentration of energy after that."

Nnoitra watched as the two took off without waiting for a reply. He snorted slightly and crossed his arms. "Well…after the first two distractions, the Arrancars will most likely hit the healing wing next. Where would they go after that?"

"Which ever place is the easier for them." Szayel spoke. "They've hit the two most damaged wings already, so they'll be looking for the next easiest way to enter the building that lacks our presence."

"So…like your lab right? Because that was already damaged from before." Nnoitra replied.

"Yeah…unfortunately. Fuck."

"And it probably doesn't help they can sense the presence of a Shinigami there either."

"Double fuck."

**

* * *

**

Fingertips played along the hilt of his sword as he mused over whether or not to withdraw it now. The air was practically radiating with different spiritual energies, each one with their own unique profile. There was Ulquiorra's just off in the distance, while it appeared from their own energies that Nell and Nnoitra's positions had closed in together once more; after the two separated, he wasn't the least bit surprised that the fifth Espada subconsciously moved himself to be closer to the former third. He could just faintly pick up on Starrk's or Harribel's own energy, which meant they were trying to either conserve it or make sure they didn't go overboard and destroy what was left of the dome. Although he was always curious as to what would happen if the dome were to be destroyed.

He paused slightly as he stepped into his labs; picking up on the different individual energies that were compressed within the structure. So far so good though, he didn't pick up on her energy which meant that she wasn't currently engaged in combat…which was good. Although in this kind of situation, she would be able to handle herself far better than he could.

The sound of several walls collapsing around him caught his attention before he turned to listen to the sounds of footsteps that followed afterwards. At the moment, he counted three dark figures that emerged from the dust and debris clouds, but that didn't necessarily mean that there weren't more who were present; or more who were going to be making themselves present.

Clicking his tongue in mild agitation, he moved his fingers away from his sword and crossed his arms instead.

"Well you certainly know how to make an entrance, I'll give you that much."

"Something about you told me that you would be one of those smart-mouths." one of the Arrancars spat. Even from the distance, he could tell the man towered over him by just a few inches. Bright-red locks of hair brushed the man's shoulders and helped to bring out the colorful war paint that decorated his face; any inch of skin that was left bare by his white-and-black uniform was covered in the same bright markings. "Then again, I guess you need a sharp tongue when you're so far down the line of power."

"Ooh well looks like someone's been doing their homework." Szayel remarked. "Why don't you start telling me things about myself that I don't know." he watched as the Arrancar stepped forward at the comment.

"We know enough about you and your tricks." he continued. "We've done a little studying of our own."

"Really now?" Szayel questioned as he moved his hands to rest on his hips now. "Well then, I hope you studied my good side."

"You are really starting to piss me off."

"Well now Hayato, if you really put time into studying me, you would've known how I act." Szayel shrugged; watching as the Arrancar seemed slightly taken aback by the fact that he could speak his name. "You would've known how I like to get under people's skin, metaphorically in this situation, and you would've prepared yourself to keep your anger in check. Just remember, the moment you start to lose your grip on yourself, that will be the perfect time for me to move in. So I would suggest you keep a tight eye on yourself rather than watch me, after all…I only need just one moment of weakness."

His amber eyes quickly caught onto the flash of movement that darted towards him. He easily stepped aside as a fist cut through the empty space where he had been standing. "What about you, Dagon? Are you going to remember everything I just said? Or maybe you'll just rely on your friend Bao to remind you. That seems like a safe option, don't you think?"

"How do you-" The Arrancar, Dagon, questioned. A black Mohawk ran clean down the middle of his head but ended in a ponytail that reached his lower back. While he lacked the slightly intimidating war markings of his fellow Arrancar and was far more slender in built, the white bone pieces that stuck out in sharp spikes around his forehead was enough to deserve a second-glance.

"Please don't insult my intelligence with your meaningless questions." Szayel interrupted. "It is a bit of embarrassing to say that while I do know all your names…it seems as though you don't know mine."

"Yeah, you're that fucking shithead Granz." Hayato snapped.

"No, I do believe that is my former brother you speak of." Szayel replied. "Someone was certainly doing the world a favor when they took him out of the equation-" taking a step back, he moved out of the way in time to avoid yet another fist directed at him. "Seriously? Can't you wait till I'm through talking?"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Just as a heads up, I am not the best at typing fight scenes, which really explains my lack of updates lately, but I am really trying to make them convincing. I might go a bit overboard with injuries though and maybe some details. **

Three against one.

Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered.

And to think, he once considered it to be a waste of time to bother learning Arrancar names. Although now he was partly thankful that he did put the time into doing so, or else this whole battle would be one confusing mess.

There was Hayato, who was clearly the small leader of the trio; Dagon, who was more of a brute follower; and Bao, who was seemingly just a background guy who stepped in when the time was needed. Which meant, as long as he focused on Hayato most of the time but kept Dagon in his sights then things shouldn't get too out of hand.

Who was he kidding? These Arrancars practically spent their days fighting tooth and nail with each other. This was going to get out of hand, it was going to be destructive and it was going to be incredibly messy. And he was going to hate every second of it.

He turned in time to barely dodge Hayato's charge, which left a crater in the wall behind him; his image reappeared halfway across the room as he watched the trio of them spin around to locate him once more.

"I really wish you would try to avoid doing any structural damage; this place is falling apart enough as it is." Szayel remarked; crossing his arms once more.

"Don't worry, we're more focused on doing bodily damage." Hayato snorted. "Maybe if you would quit running around so much."

"Well, I'm just trying to avoid both of those actually." he shrugged. "I would much rather not pick up concrete or body pieces…well now, it would depend on whose body pieces they were." he felt the air just inches in front of him break apart and barely managed to, once more, throw himself out of the way. He turned back to see Bao manage to catch himself from the missed throw and swing around to follow his movements. He caught his fist in his hand and blocked the second fist that followed closely afterwards. "Well I guess I had misinterpreted your appearance; I suppose you're not just the background walker I had assumed you were."

Bao was the shorter of the three but that didn't mean he lacked any of their matching muscle tone. With dark hair, similar to Dagon's, he fashioned it into small spikes that made his entire head look like a pin cushion. His hollow piece was hidden somewhere under his more 'intact' and covering uniform, which left only his forearms bare. His eyes were solely black without so much as a speck of white in them.

"Well now, this makes things even more difficult-"

He found himself caught off-guard as Dagon unleashed a wave of spiritual energy strong enough that it blasted off pieces of the wall. The few seconds he turned his eyes away were all that it took for Hayato to close the space between them. The full force of the much larger Arrancar striking him was enough to send him sliding halfway across the room. A wracking pain numbed most of his body as he eventually came to a rolled stop; judging from most of the pain though, he guessed that the charge attack left a little over half of his ribcage bruised. Pushing himself up, he rolled off the side to avoid a fist that came slamming down where his head had once been. A bloodied hand grabbed a hold of his throat just before he could equalize the space between them and slammed him back into the ground; pinning him successfully.

"How many times…am I going to have to go over this?" Szayel spat sarcastically; watching as Hayato seemed all the more please at their current situation. "I'm really not into this kind of stuff."

"Don't worry, in a minute all you're going to have to worry about is picking pieces of yourself out of the floor." Hayato replied as a bright-red light slowly began to concentrate itself from the hollow hole in his chest; the charging Cero draining in the needed energy to promote its growth.

"Oh fuc-"

It didn't take long for the Cero to reach full maturity and erupt between them; a blinding red light filled up nearly the entire room as the concentration of raw energy blasted everything around them into dust and ashes. The blast itself was enough to completely blow their two bodies into separate directions and still manage to leave a medium-size crater in the floor.

The collision with the nearest wall certainly did not help his case after being shot point-blank with a Cero. Pain flooded freely through his body as he barely managed to catch himself against the damage wall surface; pieces of the concrete crumbled in his hands as he pushed himself back to his feet. It certainly wasn't the first time he had been hit at close-range with an explosion, that shitface Shinigami had carried it out before, but this one unquestionably did a greater deal of damage. The right side of his uniform had been easily burned away in the blast; leaving most of his arm and a large area of his side exposed. But what part of his side was uncovered had been easily skinned away in the large explosion; revealing white pieces of his ribs that slowly peaked out from the bleeding muscle wall. It took a majority of the blast but thankfully he managed to avoid taking the sheer brutality of it, or else he wouldn't have a ribcage or rather, he wouldn't have the right side of his body. His vision was blurred slightly as he reached up to adjust his glasses; feeling where the frames were partly cracked and where the right lens had been blown out. He groaned as he felt where part of the glass had actually implanted itself into his face; grabbing hold of the glass piece, he removed it in a quick, easy motion and let it shatter against the ground.

"I suppose it would be a lie to say that I wasn't impressed by that." Szayel started; wiping the blood away from his face. "However, it's still below certain standards and you're going to need to do a lot more than a light show to prove your point in this battle."

**

* * *

**

The loud burst of energy lead her straight to the source and straight to the person she wanted to see. She caught herself from entering the doorway as a red light exploded inside; shaking the walls around her and the ground underneath, she held her place steadily till everything stilled around her. Slowly moving forward, she peeked in through the doorway in time to see him slam back into a wall; cratering it in slightly, it took him several moments before he pushed himself back up. Part of his uniform was burned away and was slowly beginning to stain red from a rather large injury she couldn't get details out of from this distance. It had to have been severe though, seeing how his movements were slowed down greatly.

"Szayel…" she spoke; stepping into the room. She paused slightly as every eye in the room turned back towards her. There were three other Arrancars in presence; based on their energy signatures…she recognized them as the ones who had willingly let themselves in earlier. So they were the 'rebel' Arrancars then…the ones she had heard so much about; the same ones she had been working on avoiding this entire time.

"Well,…how the hell did a Shinigami get mixed into this?" Dagon questioned as he brushed himself off from the blast.

"Who cares. We'll just have more fun tearing her to pieces with the rest of these dipshits." Hayato spat; picking himself up from where the massive explosion had displaced him. "The fact that she's a Shinigami will only add more need to hear her scream."

"Please, I can barely even get her to scream." Szayel remarked as he pushed up on his broken glasses. "I highly doubt you'll be able to do as much."

"Dagon, Bao, why don't you take care of our little 'guest' here; looks like I still have a job to do." Hayato remarked.

"Two against one? That seems a little unfair." Szayel commented. "You might want to get a third person out there or else she'll win single-handily and get bored afterwards."

"I don't think you're really in a position to doubt us." Hayato reminded.

"Oh I'm not doubting you, I'm just warning you."

She caught onto their movements just seconds before they actually initiated them; sliding back in time to see the two almost slam into each other instead. She took the moment to work herself out of the doorway and into the room before the two managed to get themselves loose from their predicament. One managed to bring his arm back harshly across the side of her face; striking the hardest just below her right eye to blur her vision. She retorted with a quick swing of her leg that caught him just at the back of his neck; knocking him forward and out of the way. Her eyes were quick to catch the second one jumping at her next and instantly fought back with several well-aimed punches that struck at the hollow dip of his throat; stunning him slightly.

A strong set of arms slipped underneath her own and pulled them back to lock behind her as she was lifted off her feet.

"I'm guessing this is how you managed to stay alive this entire time then." Dagon spoke; lifting the woman up off the ground. "Sorry but, your ride ends here."

She watched as the second Arrancar came forward at the action and sank his fist deep into her stomach; sending off a wave of pain throughout her body. The second hit struck harder but not quite as hard as her leg being brought clean across his face. His head snapped to the side and gave her the opportunity to plant her feet against his shoulders and kick him into a twist; setting him in the position she needed. She hooked one leg around his neck and pulled him back within reach; snapping her other leg around him to set him in a tight chokehold. His struggles only provoked her to tightened her grip till she was certain she had closed his airway passage.  
The Arrancar's grip tightened around her arms and provoked her to toss her head back; smashing the back of her skull into his face. His arms gave in and handed her enough of the much needed space she could work with. She moved her arms to tighten around his neck now; crossing them tightly enough till her left shoulder dug harshly into his throat. Her body was left somewhat hanging in mid air, but she had both of the Arrancars in a death grip despite their struggles.

The moment didn't last long as she felt a set of hands come up to attack her sides; sharp fingers ripped into the flesh and started to work at the muscles before she released the Arrancar in front of her; her legs kicked sharply into the middle of his back before they swung down and landed swiftly into the groin of the other one. Letting her arms slip off, she set back on her feet and went to strike the hollow in front of her; taken by surprise when he turned suddenly to catch her leg in mid-kick. He swung her easily and tossed her clean across the room; watching with mild amusement when she collided harshly with one of the many lab counters that were scattered around the room.

"Something's different about her." Dagon muttered as he rubbed his freshly-red neck.

"Doesn't matter." Bao replied; cracking his knuckles as he watched the woman get back up. "She's an obstacle to us; she's something that's standing between us and ultimate victory. Besides, it's one against two, how difficult could this be?"

"Aside from the fact she just got us both in a chokehold?"

"Come on Hayato, let's talk." Szayel spoke; dusting off what remained of his uniform. "Why don't you tell me your real reasons behind this rebellion thing? I'm sure it's far more complicated than anyone here imagined."

The Arrancar sneered slightly at the question. "You figured with all the spying you've been doing on us, it would've been very evident of why we're attacking."

"Yes but there's a difference in spying and actually getting in on the true action." Szayel remarked. "So why don't you tell me, that way at least I can make sure my facts are straight."

"Or maybe you're just looking for an easy way to get out of fighting." Hayato replied.

"No need to leap before you look." he shrugged. "We can keep fighting as long as you want, I just like to have a little conversation with my battles."

"What's the point in talking when you're going to be too busy spitting your teeth out in a minute."

"Come on, work with me here Hayato." Szayel sighed. "I'm sure somewhere beneath those bulking layers of muscular tissues, there's a little brain cell starving for at least a bit of conversation." he cocked his head to the side in time to avoid the fist that was meant to break his nose. "See? We can multi-task here. You just keep swinging and I'll keep talking."

"Do you want to know our reason then?" Hayato questioned; swinging his next fist, he watched as the pink-haired Espada flashed out of the way.

"Unless it's something that I already know." Szayel replied. "Which, knowing me, I probably do." he flashed out of the way as another fist came towards him; reappearing behind the man. "But please, feel free to express your own opinions on the matter."

Hayato snorted slightly at the Espada's loosely-executed tactics; he wasn't even trying to attack, but yet continued to provoke him. "You know, for years we Hollows have been the grinding dirt underneath the shoes of the Shinigami's. As if we don't suffer enough from birth into this harsh environment and the overall short life expectancy; not to mention that not only do we have to watch our backs for our own kind but we have to watch out for Shinigami's just the same. Some of them are strong enough to kill us in a single blow and all that life work is wasted. And what happens? Our souls just get recycled and we start the whole process over again, and we're still likely to end the same way we did in the previous life. But, then along came Aizen and for once, we had a chance; we had a chance to finally become the true powerhouse we are. He had goals and had they been fulfilled, we wouldn't have to worry about decaying out there in the sands. But no…you shitheads had to fuck up the whole thing. You think just because you were strong enough to survive up to this point, that just because you're strong enough to hold the power to obliterate everything, that you have to fuck it up for the rest of us. Just when we thought we were finally going to be able to escape this hellhole, you guys had to dig us a grave twice as deep."

"Well I can certainly see where you come from in this argument then." Szayel started. "But that doesn't change that due to this rather sudden outburst and lack of exclusive tactics in your battle schemes, you haven't thought this whole thing through; you're fighting with your testosterone and not your mind, which in this case, makes all the difference."

A burst of heated rage twisted itself into the form of a Cero that fired off uncontrollably; barely missing the Espada by several inches. "The only difference here is that I keep fighting and you keep running. You can only run for so long before I catch you."

"Oh I have no doubts about that, it's just the fact of when and-" Szayel started; stopping mid-sentence as he heard a slight yelp. He turned in time to see Dagon bring Nemu down against one knee; her spine snapped harshly into a pained curve before he tossed her aside like a rag doll. The nearest wall broke her momentum as she dropped to the ground into a bruised mess. "Nemu…" her name barely left his lips before he instantly caught onto his mistake; he turned back in time to avoid the first swing but missed the true intentions of the motion. Rough fingers caught the side of his glasses just as he was in a mid-twist to avoid the first punch; a sheering pain nearly blindsided him as he felt his hollow piece crack before it was ripped off.

"A lot sooner than you expected, huh?" Hayato questioned; watching as the Espada grabbed painfully at the bleeding tear along the right side of his face.

"Fuck!" Szayel growled; feeling the lens drop slightly as the right leg of his glasses was now gone. Blood pumped out profusely from the gaping wound on the side of his head as pain seemed to echo back and forth through his skull. He certainly hadn't thought the Arrancar had the balls to do that; it was cheap move. He felt those fingers grab at his neck once more before they slung him back across the room; cratering into the wall once more. A very specific slur of curse words ran through his mind as he pushed himself out of the concrete structure yet again; his vision was badly blurred but he could already feel the hollow piece regenerating itself.

"It's going to end here, Espada." Hayato remarked; closing the space between them as he pinned him against the wall by his neck once more. "We will prevail…there's no such thing as an acceptable loss at this point."

"What a coincidence, that's our motto too." Szayel spat before a cold pain seemed to settle itself into every working nerve. There was a sickening rip as the Arrancar sank his fingers into the empty spaces between each exposed rib. Tearing through the thin muscular tissue, he hooked inward before ripping his hand back; muscle strands shredded easily into frayed ends as tendons stretched till they snapped back; veins ruptured easily and spewed out a crimson shower. The outer muscular wall seemed to fall apart in dying, tattered sheets as the sickly, milky-white tendons laid limply aside like wilted tubes; ribs caved inward from the damage to their support system.

He had predicted that the Arrancar would strike at his weakest point but that didn't really help to ease the pain the least bit. If he didn't act now though, it would leave plenty of his vital organs left open to attack, which would be a bad thing.

He grabbed a hold of Hayato's wrist as he tore through his ribcage once more. "The differences between us rests in our eyes. You saw a savior in that man; you would like to presume that he died a martyr. We saw a manipulative bastard whose own power was strong enough to influence us as well. We fell for his act just as much as you did, but there's a difference in seeing your fellow Hollow being slaughtered by the enemy and not giving a shit and seeing them get slaughter by someone you thought you could trust. You think we betrayed you; you think we belittled you and left you out there to now rot in the darkness. Maybe one day when your soul's been reborn, you'll be able to understand that but until then you'll have to figure it out the hard way."

Hayato watched as the entire time the Espada spoke, his right eye shined slightly before it glowed with a light red tint. He could feel the sudden energy given off by the charge as the Cero collected what was needed before practically exploding with sheer heat and the power of the higher class Hollow.

"Goodbye Hayato."

**

* * *

**

Her back cracked solidly against the harsh floor; sending a painful strike of heat throughout her body. His foot followed soon after and slammed down harshly on her stomach; provoking a sharp cry from her lips as the sudden pressure compressed down against her soft organs. He held his position though and somewhat successfully managed to pin her to the ground.

"Looks like this ends here for you, Shinigami." Bao spoke. "It's kind of a pity but we're not going to risk even leaving one person still surviving."

She watched as he held out his hand towards her; a bright green light starting to appear from his palm. For a second, an unsettling fear seemed to whelm up in her chest as the Cero began to charge; then again, the feeling only lasted seconds before it died away. Swinging her legs up, she managed to catch them around his own before knocking them clean out from underneath him. The sudden loss of balance interrupted the charge and had his much larger form falling down towards her. She brought her arm up between them and watched as it began to spin just seconds before gravity closed the space between them. The drill-like motion cut easily through his chest and exploded in a mist of red out of his back; she could hear it practically splintering apart his ribcage and tearing selective ribs from their protective membranes. Working her legs between their bodies, she ripped her arm free and kicked his body off to the side. She could hear him coughing and choking from the sudden attack, which meant he was still alive; which meant she wasn't through just yet.

She moved her position so that she partly straddled his waist; one hand tangled in the white material of his shirt as she raised the other one above her. She didn't hesitate in bringing her fist down sharply against his face; listening to the harsh contact of the collision. The following hits came in such quick succession, it was like every move was blurred into just one motion. She could hear the successful crack of his nose and cheek bones shattering underneath the forceful hits; the sound of teeth being ripped free and knocked out of soft tissue; the sound of eye sockets breaking apart. Flesh bruised and split apart underneath the pressure; spilling out a mess of crimson liquid. She had long since busted open his lip, bloodied and broke his nose, blacked out his eyes and shattered his jaw; the facial bones themselves were beginning to break and splinter underneath each consecutive hit. She had set her concentration to only focus on getting rid of the enemies that she didn't even feel her own knuckles starting to break underneath the constant force. Drawing her fist back once more, she looked down at what could loosely be said to be the remains of a face; the mess of broken bones and torn flesh seemed to convey it into the mask of a monster. Just one more hit…

She felt her forearm twitch slightly before it began to rotate once more into a drill-like motion. Bringing it down sharply, she turned her head as a spew of blood erupted from the strike. The drill arm tearing through remaining flesh and tissue, ripping through muscle strands and splintering apart the facial bones once more. His entire skull broke apart from the hit; allowing every type of tissue and bone fragment to discharge from the fatal injury. She could feel the warm blood coating the front of her body as muscle strands and shards of bone embedded themselves into her kimono. The sickening crack of bones breaking apart was replaced by the sound of soft tissue being wildly torn into and thrown about. She didn't stop till she was almost certain that her hand had partly dug into the floor underneath. Ripping her arm free, she watched as blood ran down in thick, creamy streams as cartilage and tissue pushed itself out from underneath her fingernails. She shook off the loose blood droplets and pushed herself to her feet; preferring not to look at the aftermath of the move.

"You whore!"

She turned in time to see the second Arrancar come towards her; his fist striking her clean across the jawline with enough force to knock her down. She hit the ground roughly on one shoulder and managed to roll away in time to avoid his following kick. Pushing herself up, she was halfway back to standing before his iron-lock grip closed down on her right arm; he practically drug her back to her feet before he tossed her nearly halfway across the room.

"Fuck…ugh, now I remember why I don't do Ceros often." Szayel muttered; touching lightly at the blood running free from his eye. It felt like the Cero itself burned the inside of his cornea; his vision was slightly blurred and stained red. Shaking his head, he looked up to see where Hayato had been displaced from the attack but watched as a flash of black was headed towards him instead.

It felt like the force of another Cero struck him right in the chest; knocking him back against the wall behind him, and eventually breaking through the already damaged structure. There was a mild explosion of dust and concrete pieces as he broke clean through the wall and struck the harsh floor on the other side. He groaned at the sudden pressure that threatened to break the rest of his ribcage before he heard a matching groan above him; watching as the figure eventually pushed herself up onto her arms, taking the pressure off of his chest.

"And just what…happened to you?" he questioned; taking note of the blood splattered clean across her face and over the front of her entire body. "On second thought, maybe I don't want to know. It is a nice look on you though."

"I don't think now is the time to discuss this." Nemu replied.

"You know how I like to make small talk."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I need to get better at typing fight scenes. **

"One left."

"Good because I am getting my ass kicked out here." Szayel groaned as he started to push himself off the floor. "But with Bao obviously out of the picture and Hayato incapacitated, Dagon shouldn't be that hard to take down. Hopefully anyways."

"You know their names?" Nemu questioned.

"I got really bored one day." he answered with a mild sarcastic tone. "Actually at some point I thought it would a wise choice to memorize names and such, just in case something like this happened. I figured it would be less confusing than just naming everyone by their numbers. But, now we should probably get off the floor before he notices us here."

She nodded and moved to push herself loose from their tumbled positions; pausing when she felt his arm slip underneath her and shove her forcibly off to the side. The move caught her off-guard as she hit the ground roughly on one shoulder and gave a few rolls to break the pressure. Landing somewhat on one side, she pushed herself up to balance slightly on her hip and looked up in time to see a sword impale itself through his chest. There was a sickening rip as it tore through his sternum and pinned him to the floor.

"Ugh fuck, really?" Szayel groaned; fingertips just barely touching at the blade that had planted itself clean in his chest. "Well this day just keeps getting better. No, no let's not stop at the point-blank cero blast or the fact that I have really no thoracic wall at this point; no, let's go for at least one more stab wound, because God knows I haven't had enough of those already. Why don't you twist it to the right and finish off the rest of my ribcage, I'll just replace it later."

"You are one fucked up hollow." Dagon remarked; standing above the Espada.

"Yeah well, believe me when I say you are not the first one to have told me that."

Pushing herself to her feet, she angled her body for the perfect trajectory before she lunged forward. Her full body force struck the Arrancar as she wrapped her arms around his midsection and pulled him into a slight twist; forcing him to release his sword as she drug him to the ground. She moved to separate herself from him the moment he hit the floor but felt his hand grab a tight hold on her throat before she could do so. A struggle ensued as she fought to get out of his grip and yet tried to keep him partly pinned down but it was his brute strength against hers. He managed to toss her aside as he started to pick himself up, but not before she managed to swing her leg over in time to catch him in the throat. That didn't really help her and only managed to anger the Arrancar even more as he went to slam his fist down into the space her head occupied; she barely rolled out in time to avoid the rough collision. His other hand was quick to grab the end of her braid and drag her rather painfully back. She managed to catch his fist this time, and substituted it with her own clean across his face; splitting open her knuckles on his edged hollow piece in the process. He retaliated quickly and brought the back of his hand sharply across the side of her face with enough force to snap her head in one direction. She barely had time to register the pain before she felt something warm touch at her neck. Her eyes lifted up to see the tip of a sword sticking out of his throat; fresh crimson streams rolled their way down the sleek blade before they fell to their death against her flesh. The sound of tissue ripping apart echoed violently in her ears as the sword was twisted to practically rip the esophagus in half and obliterate everything in between. She slowly managed to pull herself out from underneath the body and watched as it collapsed soon afterward; the sword working its way through the flesh and into the floor below.

"You know, sometimes my impatience really takes the fun out of things." Szayel commented as he released the sword handle from his grip. "Although I suppose I could always save disembowelment for later." he shook his head and turned his attention back to the woman on the floor. She was absolutely covered in blood; her face laced with crimson streams that fell along the slender curve of her neck to soak into the material of her kimono. It looked like a massacre embodied itself in colorful designs across her flesh. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." she answered as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. She rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes in some attempt to wipe away the blood. "What about you?"

"Well I'm holding together by strands but it's not too bad, aside from a moderately pierced lung." he replied. "And I have a strange urge to say a few selective words but I think I'll keep that to myself for now."

Shaking her head, she moved forward and gently wiped away the blood that trailed down from his lips. He had blood practically covering his entire chest from his mutilated ribcage to the stab wound in the center of his sternum. "You certainly know how to make a mess of yourself, Aporro."

"I wouldn't be the one talking, Kurotsuchi." he remarked; carefully wiping away the blood from her face, well at least some of it; his white gloves staining themselves red. "You're going to have to tell me how exactly you managed to get this much blood on yourself…that's not yours."

"They're not going to be the only ones here, are they?" she questioned; changing the topic. "They were only the first ones; the second wave will be coming soon then."

"And I predict they'll be in greater numbers and have a greater aggression towards us." he nodded. "Which means, the first wave was merely a warm up."

"Well that spells bad news for you then."

**

* * *

**

A single swing tossed a number of Arrancars into the air as his blade cut easily through flesh and bone; there were waves of blood and body parts that were slung carelessly to litter the air as bodies crashed into walls and floors. He loved the sound of bones splintering and breaking into pieces when enough force was exerted. Chest plates, ribcages, pelvises, femurs, skulls, spines, no bone was to be left unbroken. Spinning his massive sword, he let it go and watched as the curved blades cut easily through the crowd. There were so many screams and so much blood to follow, it really seemed more like amusement park rather than a fight. Grabbing a hold of the chain that kept the sword attached to his body, he jerked it back and watched as the sword arched towards its left and cut down even more Arrancars before it returned to his hand. "You call this a rebellion? I've been in tickle fights that were worse."

"Quite the taunter today, are we?" Nell remarked as she slid to match back to back with him. Her sword stayed at her side as small droplets of blood ran their way down along the still blade. She glanced back as he stabbed his sword into the ground next to him; the curved blades were absolutely dripping with heavy globs of blood mixed with flesh and tissue; bits and pieces of bone were caught around the curved ends with muscle strands barely clinging to the crimson surface. "I thought we agreed on only mildly crippling them."

"I didn't hear the word 'mildly' in that conversation." Nnoitra replied. "Only that we were to try and 'cripple' them first, which in my book, losing a limb or two would count for as crippling."

"You're leading a massacre in here."

"Yeah well, Nell, you're just going to have to shut up and deal with it." he remarked; bringing his sword up once more as he watched what remaining Arrancars started to advance towards them. "If you think they're just going to step aside and let us win…well then there's no fun in that."

"Oh you are quite the scholar, aren't you." Nell snorted as she lifted her sword slightly at the movement in front of her. "Just try and tone it down a bit, it'll be less for you to clean later."

"Nah, I think the mess will be completely worth it. In fact, I may just keep the limbs as trophies."

"You're messed up Nnoitra."

"I think it's a gift."

* * *

"Not as many as I expected." Starrk commented; observing the moving figures in front of him as he slipped out of yet another massive hole in the structure walls. He felt the sand shift underneath his feet with every step he took to get closer to the figures; watching as they stood their ground despite their obvious anxiety.

"They might've shifted their army around." Harribel remarked as she followed close behind him. "I suspect that most of them are going towards Nnoitra at this point; his energy level is the highest for now. They want to fight and he's willing to give them one."

He let out a rough yet quiet sigh. "Yeah, but they don't know that they're walking into their own deathbeds by approaching him."

"Hmm, true but perhaps they see death as a grander experience than this." she shrugged; pausing the moment she caught him stop as well. She dropped her arms from their crossed position and let her fingers hook lightly onto the black sash around her waist. "I wouldn't doubt that the others have more than likely already knocked out half their army by now, but they're not running. They know we're putting our weight on the hope that they'll retreat. They know we're hoping to kill a few here or there and call the end of it."

"But they don't know when." Starrk added; lightly scratching at his chin.

"When what?"

"When we're actually going to kill a few here and there." he replied; triggering a massive explosion of spiritual energy. Blue flame-like wisps shot up all around him and lashed out in influenced waves before he released control of it. It seemed like slow seconds passed through as the energy waves exploded outwards around them. Anything and everything that stood in its way was soon either blasted out or completely dissolved underneath the expressive heat of the energy. When the air was cleared, he took note of not only the sudden disappearance in the moving figures but as well as quite a few yards of sand that were now missing from around them.

"A bit…much, don't you think?" Harribel questioned; looking around at the now barren playing field around them.

"I barely broke a sweat." Starrk yawned. "Now when can we be done? I need a nap."

A light chuckle left her lips as she moved one hand to gently touch at his arm. "From the looks of it, these battles shouldn't last much longer. Then again…there are always darker shadows out there."

"True but there are always-" he started; stopping at the sound of something crashing behind him. He slowly glanced over his shoulder in time to see the rest of the already damaged wall collapse into a pile of debris. He turned back and quietly cleared his throat. "Well…if anyone notices, I didn't do it…purposely."

"Let's keep moving then." she replied; chuckling lightly as she turned to head towards the closest energy reading. She stopped when she felt him grab at her hand before he took it completely into his own and continued walking.

"Would now be a bad time to ask…what we are? I mean, like the two of us?" he questioned; watching as she walked along side of him.

"We're getting chased down by Arrancars who will not hesitate to strike us at any given moment they see a chance; we're completely surrounded on all sides; the structure we have marked as our home is slowly crumbling down around us." she started; moving her eyes to the smoke off in the distance. "But we've both had to deal with betrayal and defeat…and even in my weakest hour, you never gave up. You fought till the end and you fought to keep me alive, even when you were closing in on death yourself. You sacrificed part of yourself for me."

"Because you opened my eyes." he spoke. "You showed me that this entire time, I wasn't alone. I never had been. I had the others, who were strong enough to survive around me, but more importantly, I had you. I could fight around you and release my full power and…you never once even flinched. Everyone wants to be the strongest, but no one knows how to handle it; no one knows what it was like to live in that kind of loneliness. And now…I don't have to anymore."

"Don't go soft on me." she teased. "We still have a rebellion to fight and I can't have you getting distracted."

He chuckled and brought her hand up to brush against his lips. "You keep me plenty distracted, so maybe it's a good thing."

"Or maybe a bad thing." Harribel replied; turning in time to deflect a short-lived Bala with the back of her hand. She watched as the figures from before slowly began to show up once more as they dug themselves out of their earlier sand coffins. "Looks like you merely displaced them."

"Yeah I forgot if I was supposed to kill them or not." Starrk sighed. "I just assumed Nnoitra was doing enough of that to account for everyone."

"Well now, it just gives us a bit more time to have some fun, don't you think."

**

* * *

**

"When do you think the second wave will arrive?"

"Knowing them, they're already here." Szayel replied; grabbing another shirt from the vast abundance of ones from his closet. The other one had simply been ripped off and tossed away; there was far too much damage and blood in it to even bother with saving. "Luckily, I managed to reinstall a few of the trick mirrors just before this whole thing shot to hell. So they should be having some fun running themselves around in circles for awhile."

"How long will that last?"

"Oh you know, it could go on for days." he shrugged. "But since we need to solve this whole mess now, I'll have to step in and interrupt the cycle."

She watched as he slipped on the new shirt and carefully worked out the small wrinkles and folds in it. Surprisingly enough, his injuries didn't bleed through as she expected; he had mentioned something earlier how he just manipulated his energy and stopped the bleeding. The effect would do little with healing it but at the least he didn't have blood shooting out all over the place. "Are you sure you'll be okay with those injuries?"

"Probably not." he replied; running a hand through his hair as he carefully repositioned his pink strands. "If I had been hit a rib or two higher, my right arm would've been crippled. Thankfully it's not though, so I have that to work with. There's still a lot of damage so my movements will be limited but it shouldn't be too much of a change; it's not like I'm planning on throwing myself out into battle." closing the door, he watched as the closet piece sealed itself back into the wall; giving off the impression that the large room around them was just an empty area. It really wasn't much of a necessity to have, but he didn't really like people going through his stuff either. He turned back to face her and watched as she finished cleaning off the last of the blood from her face with what remained of his earlier shirt. He narrowed his eyes slightly before he walked over to her; his hands lightly cupping her jawline as he titled her head up to look at him. "You were serious. All that blood and not a single injury?"

"None of it's mine." Nemu answered.

"None?" he repeated.

"Not a drop."

He dropped his hands for a moment before he carefully took a hold of her right arm. The flesh around her knuckles was torn open and slowly turning a mix of purple and dark-blue; spots of black appeared randomly across her skin and seemed to have started to spread down to her fingers. He ran his thumb over her bruised, cut knuckles and felt the displaced joints shift slightly against tendons and muscles at the slight touch. "So you managed to not only displace every knuckle but fracture a few of them as well. And…how did this happen again?"

"It's really not important." she replied; lightly pulling her hand free. "It's not going to hinder me the least bit."

"One more hit and you'll cripple your entire hand." he warned.

"It's not the worst I've dealt with." she reminded.

He sighed and watched her with those determined eyes staring right back at him. His fingers moved instead to brush aside the blood-soaked strands that had fallen slightly into her face. "You handled yourself better than I first expected."

"I was created for this kind of stuff."

"And I should be thankful for it."

She watched as he started to turn away once more before her fingers caught a hold of his uniform sleeve to stop him. "One question though. Why did you push me out of the way earlier? I could easily have taken that attack."

A light chuckle caught his lips as he looked at her once more. "Because, that sword struck me right here." he took her hand and placed it against the part of his chest where he had been impaled earlier. "And it would've struck you here just the same." his fingers touched at the identical spot right on her sternum. "I'm sure he was planning on trying to somehow pin us together but he was aiming right here; right for the heart."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Well this chapter took way too damn long and I'm only happy with bits and pieces of it.**

Her light eyes opened up at the sound of his heavy body hitting the ground just a few feet from her. Looking up at the ceiling above her, she stretched her arms out before she planted her hands against the ground and lifted her whole body into a small arch; feeling the sore points in her body become emphasized by the motion.

"When the hell did Arrancars get so strong?" Nell groaned; letting her body drop back against the floor.

"I was going to ask when they got so annoying." Nnoitra snorted.

She let out a long sigh and took the down time to rest herself. After battle after battle of Arrancar after Arrancar and move after move, she was ready to just sleep off the rest of the day. But this was only the second or third wave of them, she lost count after awhile, and most of the previous Arrancars had managed to escape with somewhat minor injuries; which meant they could assume that the next group was well informed and warned about them. Which meant that any following wave could be smarter and better prepared than the first but that was fine. She assumed between his brute force and her strategic thinking, they could withstand a few more waves before everything went to Hell. And by 'Hell' she guessed that they would both look into cheating slightly and just go into Resurrección Forms; then again, she was going out on a limb to say that the next wave of Arrancars were going to follow suit. Nothing like a massive fight between release forms. Or maybe she was just over thinking this. Then again, they couldn't just keep up with their mindless slaughter- someone was eventually going to learn from their previous Brother's mistakes.

But, for now, the most they could do was take advantage of the short break between the different waves of rebels. Which, at this point, a break was greatly needed to ease her pained muscles.

She listened to the sound of the heavy breathing that emerged from his collapsed form next to her. He was so pumped for these battles, she was curious to ask whether he was disappointed or not in them. Then again, he seemed like he was enjoying just the pure mutilation of the bodies; the only thing he seemed to enjoy more was the screaming and the absolute blood-fest. Hell he got so into it, she had cuts on her body where his blade had sliced clean through her flesh while he was going for the other Arrancars; although she had a theory that a few of those gashes weren't accidents.

Sighing once more, she looked over at the Espada male who was lying within arms reach from her. All she could see was his blood-stained eyepatch while his black locks fell into the rest of his face. His uniform was partially damage, although she did recall him ripping off the sleeves himself. A loud groan escaped him as he eventually fitted his hands against the floor and pushed himself up.

"Well, might as well get our asses off the floor and keep going." he spat despite his body's growing need for rest.

"Can't we just wait a little while longer?" she groaned.

She took that by his stationary position that he took it into consideration but knowing him, it wouldn't last long; he would choose to kill over sleep any day. She rolled over onto her left hip and pushed herself up to rest on her palms; pressing her forehead into his shoulder slightly.

"Pft, yeah because we'll be able to confront them while lying on the ground." he replied as he stretched and popped his shoulders. He looked over as she moved to rest her chin against his shoulder now; her eyes were closed but her face was slightly scrunched as though she was annoyed by the answer but knew they would have to get up eventually. It wasn't that the Arrancars were that much stronger than from what he expected but their numbers certainly gave them a slight advantage. But then again, it was their body parts and organs that were slung across the room, not his.

"Ugh, fuck this whole rebellion." she cursed as she pushed herself back to rest on her knees. "Had they attacked much later, I think we would've been in better shape to handle them. We're all in bad shape and Los Noches is practically falling apart on top of us here. Goddamn, when did they get so smart?"

He gave a rough shake of his head before he pushed his hair from his face. "Face it, given the chance, you would've done the same shit."

"And given the chance, you would've slaughtered them all the moment you caught wind of this." she fired back.

"Yeah and we wouldn't have been caught in this fucking situation had you just let me."

"Oh yeah, because you could handle God knows how many of them by yourself." she scoffed. "I swear, I'm surprised you even fucking listened to me then."

"I just did it to get you to shut up." he sneered.

"Oh, real mature there Nnoitra, you fucking prick." she hissed. "Well how else are you going to get me to shut up now? I'm pretty sure you can't just walk away like you always do."

His body pushed against her own as they toppled back against the ground; both now tangled together on the blood-stained floor. It was a mix of cold hands and hot lips as they showed no hesitation in quickly silencing each other; finding a much better purpose and use for sharp tongues.

* * *

"So where exactly are these traps of yours?"

He glanced back at her question; taking note of how she followed closely behind him. "Actually we're in one right now. You've probably noticed that no matter how many times we go through that doorway, the room itself never changes."

Actually…to be quite honest, she hadn't noticed that till now. Then again, most of the rooms were the same style and were almost identical in features regardless. But she had noted the feeling earlier that they were just seemingly running in circles. "So…how far does this illusion go?"

He paused momentarily as they entered the same room for what seemed like yet another countless time. "Actually the main area that I used for this kind of deception was sadly blown up but…as I mentioned before, I had managed to replace a few here or there in this temporary place. Not quite as well executed though. It kind of urks me to be inside of my own trap; I can point out every single flaw and imperfection. This was really quite a rushed job, I'm slightly disappointed in it to be honest. But I suppose I'll have to deal with it later, we have too much to worry about as it is."

"So then when will we be running into these other Arrancars?" Nemu questioned. "They should be here, right?"

"Somewhere." he nodded. "It's not like they could've gotten out, unless they figured out how to escape- which is highly doubtful. This trap is all about tricking the eyes and the mind; it makes you convince yourself that you're actually going somewhere, when in reality you're not. I highly doubt they're smart enough to cancel that out."

"Well either they figured out a way or…they're right behind us."

"I know for certain they couldn't have gotten out, so that means…" Szayel started as he slowly turned to look back; taking note of the dark figures that were now in the doorway behind them. "Let me guess…they've been there for quite some time now, haven't they?"

"Actually, they've been following us for awhile." she corrected; half-turned to glance at the new group of challengers. "I thought we might as well keep them coming after us till we found a suitable place to turn around."

"And I suppose this is as suitable as it's going to get." he nodded. "Think you'll be up to more physical action?"

"I'm better prepared than you are." she replied.

"Touché."

**

* * *

**

The solid kick to the chest was a bit stronger than she expected as she found herself skidding across the room before her body found a stopping point in the nearest wall. The pain was only momentary as she struggled slightly to get her placement back together. Pushing herself up along the wall, she managed to get herself up into a somewhat risen sitting position before sharp movement caught her eye. She looked up in time to see the Arrancar from before charge towards her; his sword fully drawn and aimed to pierce her body.

There was a flash of sparks as the Arrancar was blatantly blindsided by another sword that knocked his clean out of hand. Pushing herself to her feet, she watched as the Espada easily cut down the Arrancar in a mist of crimson liquid; his body collapsing to the ground with a gaping wound that nearly split his upper body in half.

"I thought it was just a piece of decoration." Nemu commented.

"Well I rarely use it." Szayel chuckled lightly as he rotated his wrist sligthly at the extra weight; feeling the unique pattern of the hilt press into his palm. "But I figured with everything go on around here, now would be a good time to actually put it to good use."

She was slightly surprised by how well he seemed to handle the weapon; how he easily cut down an opponent in just one hit. It almost made her wonder why he didn't use it sooner. But now was really not the time or place to be questioning him. Shifting her focus, she looked around to where the other Arrancars had retreated slightly after the first casualty. At least they were finally getting somewhere in these battles and not just toying around with one another. "So what do we do now? Wait for them to come to us or bring ourselves to them?"

"Wait for it." he advised. Seconds later, a burst of energy radiated from far off in the distance; several more followed closely afterwards till the presence of released energy lingered heavily in the air. "That would be the first Resurrection that was called and that would be every other hollow following in suit. Which means in a few minutes or so, every single Arrancar here is going to panic and do the same thing."

There were still four of the Arrancars left though…how were they supposed to fight off four different release forms? "How do we-"

"We don't." Szayel interrupted. "Or at least…you won't."

"Why is that?" she questioned; slightly offended by his words. "I can handle them-"

"It's not them I'm worried about." he spoke. "I know you can handle them but…I don't think you'll be able to handle me."

She started to speak but stopped herself this time; taking the moment to think his words over now. Off in the distance were two more sets of energy that released, but these ones had to have been at least two to three times more powerful. A reasoning clicked inside of her mind but she did her best to try and ignore it.

"There goes Nnoitra and Nell." he remarked. "You can almost feel his arrogance in his energy alone."

"It's a pattern, isn't it?" she questioned.

"Something like that, yes." he nodded. "It's almost like a chain reaction really. As soon as one person goes into Resurrection state, the rest of us follow. I'm not entirely sure why, it's almost like it's an instinct for us to do it. When someone tries to show us up, we have to prove our strength and power. We don't always fight just yet, but instead we try and intimidate one another with just the sheer release of energy alone. And when we finally know what we want to do, we strike. It's an animalistic trend."

"You're actually going to do it then, aren't you?"

"That's why I wanted to let you know ahead of time." he started; pausing a moment. "There are more Arrancars back towards the western wing, you should head over there and take care of them. The third wave arrived a bit sooner than expected but it could work in our favor. Because they're still fresh for battle, they won't be able to achieve their Resurrection forms just yet, which means you'll have an easy time taking them out."

"I can't trust that you'll still be alive when I get back."

"Well hell, I can't either but you'll be safer-…you'll just be better equipped there anyways."

She was reluctant to agree with him but found herself slowly backing away from him. He had a point, right? Did she really want to stand here and witness his true form again? Did she want to put herself through that kind of torment? Her hands found the doorframe behind her and seemed to force her body out into the room despite her need to keep near him. But she had to do this. Even if it meant half-dragging herself down the winding corridor and forcing herself to turn her attention to the upcoming Arrancars she would encounter soon.

There was a burst of energy behind her as several of the previous Arrancars quickly initiated their Resurrection forms. Their different energies seemed to overlap and merge together with one another's to create a cornucopia of power. And in the midst of it, was an explosion of energy that just about leveled out the others. If she focused on it, she could almost push his image clean out of her mind.

Finding her way through the radiating maze of corridors, she looked up as she stepped into the new arena and easily spotted the four new Arrancars she would be going against. Despite being outnumbered, she wasn't too worried about it. As long as she remained focused, she could do it. Now if only she could stop turning her attention back to his energy instead. It would be critical if she couldn't concentrate now, especially with her being the one outnumbered.

"Well it's about time someone showed up." one of the Arrancars remarked as he dropped the beaker he had in hand; the glass shattered upon impact with the ground and shot up in an explosion of shards. It wasn't surprising that it wasn't the only thing that had been broken. Plenty of the other beakers and more lab equipment had been easily shattered into one massive pit of just glass that was spread in a four or five foot long collection. Of course, it wasn't the only thing but it was the first thing that caught her attention. There were also lab counters that were completely uprooted and destroyed; some of them had even been tossed through walls to further the structural damages. Anything that could be moved and broken found itself in shattered remains spread out across the broken floor like funeral ashes.

"I was afraid the welcoming committee was never going to show up."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: This chapter frustrated me beyond words. **

Despite being outnumbered, she was doing an okay job at carefully balancing herself between the four of them. Juggling two of them at once, she would momentarily disable them just long enough to deal with the next two. It didn't come without its fair share of bruises and cracked ribs as just one hit from them was enough to feel as though it shattered bone upon impact. But she easily made it a mind over matter thing. As long as she didn't mind the pain, it didn't matter.

She watched as her next leg swing missed the Arrancar by just inches before he took advantage of her opened side. His hands grasped harshly at her body as he easily lifted her off the ground. Without another word, he sent her sliding and skidding across the room till she found an obvious obstacle to stop her sudden motion.

There was sickening collision of bare flesh against glass as her body slid almost perfectly across the glass pit. Pain claimed her right leg as she managed to catch herself and come to a sliding stop. Groaning lightly, it felt like half of her body was immobilized by the shockwave of different readings running across her nerves. Trying to find a spot clear of glass, she started to push herself back up only to feel her right hand almost instantly become hot with pain. She looked down to see a larger shard of glass impaled clean in the middle of her palm; it just about split down between her ring and middle finger and tore open a massive gap in her hand. Blood pushed itself out in flowing streams as it pooled in her palm and rushed out between her fingers. Pushing the pain aside, she slowly got back to her feet and looked down to examine the rest of her injuries.

The outside of her leg was absolutely brutalized. Shards of glass, both large and small, made themselves a new home underneath the flesh and muscles. Small indentions could be seen from where small shards had been completely submerged beneath the skin. There was blood pumping out of every small, deep cut; trailing down along the curve of her leg and dripping to the floor in large companies. One of the glass pieces was about the length of her hand and had actually dug into the flesh and then ripped back out a few inches later; leaving the piece stuck in a pocket-like hold. Gashes ranged from being a few inches long to being a few inches deep and wide. Her entire leg was almost to its crippling point…but she couldn't stop here.

She couldn't stop now.

Reaching down, she grabbed one of the large shards and tore it from its flesh pocket; shaking from the pain that followed afterwards, she dropped the shard to the floor and removed the few more that would cripple her movement. She didn't have the time to remove all the shards but she had to at least get rid of the ones that would hinder her.

"Damn, she's got more fighting power than I thought." one of the Arrancars remarked.

"Maybe but we've already crippled her. She won't be able to take much more damage now."

**

* * *

**

Her struggle with one of the three remaining Arrancars changed as the both of them fell to the floor in a twisting, painful mess. If she wanted to end this quickly, then she had to make sure she was the first one to make a move. It wasn't easy but she managed to catch him hard across the temple with one foot as he came for her. Even if it wasn't enough to completely deter him, it knocked off his center of balance when he lunged for her next. A short struggle ensued as they rolled back and forth across the ground; the both of them trying to throw the other one off with little to no success. She defended one of his swings with her own and managed to dislocate her knuckles with the act. Putting away the hot pain, she easily kicked him aside and caught part of his face on her knee. It was a careful balance and juggle as she managed to work her legs around his neck; pinning him on his back as she dug her heels into the soft dip of his chest. He struggled and thrashed about as she tried to tighten her hold just a bit longer before she twisted her legs into one direction and pushed his body into the other.

That final twist was followed by a sharp crack as the Arrancar's neck gave into the pressure and snapped clean. She let out a low sigh as the violent motions ended and the Arrancar fell completely still. Carefully pushing herself away from the body, she used the tip of her foot to extend the distance between them even more. Her entire body ached and her leg was bleeding all over the place; the shards of glass still sticking out in all twisted directions in a sickening picture of pain. But she didn't have the time to sit around and worry over these injuries; she was lucky enough to get the time to just eliminate one of the Arrancars but that still left her with two. Slowly pushing herself to her feet, she caught herself from stumbling as her leg almost threatened to give out. The warm, crimson liquid slid down the length of her limb from her hip all the way down to her ankle and then to the floor. At the least that she could tell, she avoided any major muscular damage and one of the longer shards had just barely managed to miss hitting a tendon or two. Regardless though, if she kept putting anymore pressure or stress on it, she was going to cripple it.

Just two more.

She kept telling herself that.

Just two more to finish off and she could finally tend to the injuries or at least rip the glass shards out. She could also go back to check on him…but right now, she would have to put that at the bottom of her list. Maybe he could handle them, maybe he couldn't, either way it was not her place to infer at, right?

Turning back towards the remaining Arrancars, who seemed to have just simply stepped back to watch their fellow Hollow die, she switched her focus onto the both of them and watched carefully for the next move. They would both target her injured side given the chance, which meant she would have to take a defensive position for now; at least till she was able to pick out their motions and motives. She watched as they both stepped back slightly before they disappeared from sight. Were they retreating? No, they had to be backtracking to throw her off their trails. But…their energy signals completely disappeared from her reach. They had to be coming back right? They wouldn't just simply…run away, would they? There was no logical reason as to why they would be running away.

"Well now…this is interesting."

She turned at the voice behind her and watched as another Arrancar stepped forward. This one was a darker-toned female though. Her blonde hair fell down to mask her face, which was already half covered by her uniform that stretched up to conceal the lower portion. Her arms came up to cross underneath her…well, rather massive breasts, which had only the top section of them covered by the rather revealing uniform. A pale scar ran diagonally up across her revealed midsection and disappeared underneath her crossed arms. There was something in her stiff stance and the way her eyes never once moved away from her or even blinked. It was a chilling experience as the two literally stood separated by mere feet or few yards in complete, utter silence.

The woman wasn't making a move towards her; in fact, she didn't even seem to be thinking of making a move towards her. She just….she just stood there watching and observing. Her energy levels were difficult to read and almost seemed non-existing as she tried to find another way to figure out who she was. She seemed far too calm and content to be one of the rebelling Arrancars and that scar…something about it didn't seem quite right.

"I'm curious about your appearance here but…I don't think I'm quite curious enough to ask questions just yet." the woman spoke. "And even if, I believe you're the wrong person to talk to about it."

"Who…are you?" she questioned slowly.

"Hmm, and here I thought we were both going to sit here in silence." the woman replied. "But seeing as you are technically in our domain…perhaps you should be answering that question first."

The Arrancar spoke calmly with a low tone; her words were firm but not the least bit threatening…at least not now anyways. She continued to study her from a distance as she tried to figure out another plan of action. By saying 'our domain' she was obviously referring to herself as a Hollow, more importantly as an Arrancar but she was able to make the other two disappear with only a look it seemed; which meant, she was obviously higher level than they were…but her energy was difficult to read even for a higher level Arrancar. It didn't seem to make much sense but…she was overlooking something, wasn't she?

"You're an Espada, aren't you?"

"It took you this long to figure out?"

To be honest, after fighting all the different Arrancars around, the woman just kind of blended in with the rest of them. Of course, she should've been able to pick up on the difference between her and the other Arrancars, but she had caught up on trivial matters instead.

"Is this all we're going to do? Just ask questions and get no answers in return?"

"Nothing's stopping you from getting an answer." she reminded.

The woman let out a heavy sigh and let her arms slowly drop to her sides. "Well then, I see you're already quite aware of Nnoitra's tactics in getting information. One thing that must be understood about Nnoitra is that…he's very straightforward and brash with how he handles things; those remaining of us, do not reflect that kind of idealism."

"So then you're content with standing here."

"Oh no, I never said that."

The woman was being incredible difficult to read at this point. Every aspect of her that could be read was hidden away and left her with nothing more than a blank slate to work with. But there had to be a logical reason as to why the woman came here at this point; what had prevented her from showing up earlier?

"You're just like him." the woman remarked. "Always observing and trying to figure someone out without words. You take in every detail and every aspect…and you try to make a story, a profile, out of it. So tell me, what do you have so far?"

She watched as those sharp eyes seemed to cut through her own and pierce something deep inside. It was a frightening gaze but just a gaze nonetheless; it was harmless to her. The woman seemed to act intrigued but never showed the least bit of interest aside from her few words and questions. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" the woman repeated. "Are you sure?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever words you have."

The Espada had a way to keep the situation and control in her hands. "Unlike the others, you haven't visited this area before; I've witnessed the few remaining but I don't recognize you from anywhere."

"Yes well, I've seen this place many times before…I'm in no hurry to see it again."

"It means you have a reason." she spoke.

Her words seemed to have caught the woman slightly by surprise even if for just a few seconds. "Call it out of character but…I was slightly concerned."

"Concerned?"

"You are too."

She couldn't deny that she was a little worried about the constant drop in his energy, which was already faint and difficult to sense. "Why are you…concerned? I got the impression that everyone here was-"

"Heartless towards one another?" the Espada finished. "We may be heartless by medical and biological means and we may attack aggressively and defensively towards each other, but that doesn't stop everyone. Despite the pain and agony we are born into, some of us find different methods in killing the hurt."

Whether or not the woman had intended to phrase those words in that fashion…it cut like a warm blade regardless. "Were you two-"

"No." the woman interrupted quickly, yet with a soft tone. "A few cold nights account for nothing."

"There's always a cold night."

"And there were always a pair of warm hands but that doesn't mean the temptation surpassed me." the Espada finished. "This place is unforgivable, that's why we have to maintain our strength and be careful of who we fall into. That's how weaknesses are revealed but you…you don't seem to quite grasp that concept."

"It was once." she replied. "And even then…it was just an over compulsive physical need."

"So why are you still here?"

"I don't know."

The woman closed her eyes for a moment but continued to speak. "It's like being caught in a spiders web, isn't it? You don't know you're running into it till it's much too late."

"What do you mean?" she questioned. It seemed like right at that moment, she caught a massive reading of his energy that struck her senses before it easily disappeared in seconds. There was no lingering sensation or even a follow up burst. It felt like he just…vanished. The moment seemed to remain deeply seeded in her chest as she slowly half turned back in the direction it came from. What had happened? Where was he?

"I won't stop you."

She nodded lightly as though she needed the woman's permission to move.

"You have to care for the ones you love."


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Another short chapter, somehow managed to hit two in a row. I feel better about this one though and I only had to go through two drafts of it before I felt it satisfied my needs for a chapter. Anyways, thanks for the helpful reviews! Those last ones really helped to brighten my day. **

"Szayel?"

His name barely left her lips as she stepped into the room she had sensed his energy coming from. Green eyes slowly taking in the massacre-like scene that unraveled in front of her. There were blood smears over the white tiles; bodies scattered about with half their insides on the outside now; small burn marks scorched the walls and what was left of the furniture inside of the room. Slowly pushing herself past the doorway, she made sure to watch where she stepped and let her eyes take in the scene around her. She couldn't comprehend what had happened; he certainly never showed any combat skill that could impact this kind of damage. Release form or not.

She looked up at the sound of something striking the floor and took note of his new form just a few yards from her own. Taking a step towards him, it only took seconds before she registered what she was actually seeing; her entire body ran cold as she retracted that step forward, which was followed by another and another step back. Her eyes never left him as she moved further and further away; her back eventually touching the wall space behind her.

"You have that look in your eyes...like you're actually afraid."

Her fingers curled against the wall as her back pressed hard against the smooth surface and yet her body wanted to push her even further back; away from here and away from him. Being 'afraid' wasn't exactly how she would put it as opposed to being blatantly frightened. Her expression remained fairly stoic but her eyes almost seemed to well up with fear as she dug her shoulders back into the wall. She wasn't one to feel fear; she wasn't one to feel anything and yet...he always seemed to be changing her just one piece at a time. He taught her to turn experimenting into lust and now... he was showing her how to feel fear with just her eyes.

"You'll have to excuse my behavior...Fornicaras tends to make my sanity weakest in this form."

"Fornicaras." she repeated softly. "Is that its name?"

"Yes." he answered; watching as she leaned forward with mild curiosity and interest but immediately slid back once she caught herself. "Don't worry...I won't hurt you again."

Slowly pushing herself out of the small comfort zone she had formed, she hesitantly stepped a few feet towards him; keeping a careful eye on any movement that would come from his body. There were pools of blood flooding the floor tiles with ragged bodies splashed in the middle of them; the scrapes and burns across the stained tiles showed sign of a struggle and she assumed the large amount of energy she had felt before was due to whatever happened here. Whatever happened to him.

The light-purple material that covered his upper body was torn in several places to reveal his ripped flesh underneath; blood poured out of every wound and slid down his slender body to drip to the ground. She took note that his hair was significantly longer, now brushing his shoulders in slightly curled locks; although once pink, it seemed like a majority of the strands were now discolored red. Thin-limbed wings emerged from his back and lightly wavered in mid-air; the pair kept a constant rhythm as they slowly rose a few inches before they dropped back down. Large, red drop-like appendages hung down from the wings but seemed almost weightless as the limbs barely showed signs of drooping from the extra weight; however most of the drops looked to have been destroyed as they dripped a black liquid from their burst sacs. While his upper body was fairly unchanged, it was his lower half she couldn't distinctively make out. It looked like it was the cross between semi-human, and semi-sea anemone of some sort.

So this is what he looked like...

Her memory failed in exactly piecing the form together but...here it was, standing in front of her. Physically, it wasn't the most intimidating thing she had seen but when she remembered what he was really capable of in this form, the fear started all over again.

He watched as she slowly closed the space between them; watching as she paused several times as though she was second-guessing herself before she pushed forward into the next step. Eventually she stopped just within arms' reach of him but couldn't seem to push herself into closing those last few steps. But she was close enough to where he could see that the fear had momentarily subsided into cautious curiosity that just barely managed to outrank all else. Slowly, he raised a hand and brushed his elongated fingers along the soft flesh of her cheek; watching as her skin tone seemed to pale just slightly as his nails lightly touched over her jawline.

"What are you?" she questioned.

"Well that's a rather broad question." he remarked; carefully tucking away a piece of hair from her face.

"It's like you're a combination of things..."

He chuckled lightly as blood sparked from his lips. "It's easier to understand if you don't think about it."

Slowly, she raised her hands and placed them against his chest; feeling his warm blood slowly ease over her fingers from the long gashes that tore through his upper body. This wasn't the first time her hands had been drenched in his blood though... She traced over the new-found muscles that seemed to plague his torso and shoulders before cupping her hands over his jawline; taking note of how his glasses shifted in both form and position. White visors emerged from underneath his longer strands and almost seemed to block his peripheral vision; forcing him to look only ahead. While the new look was odd, she took in how it exposed his amber eyes which were normally hidden behind a layer of glass. His vision was clouded and unfocused as his eyes just seemed to stare but weren't actually able to see anything. Her fingers lightly traced the purple markings that bled out around his left eye; fingertips curling in slightly as she watched blood slowly emerge from his cheek and roll down in small trails. Turning her hand slightly, she took note of the bloodied shard of glass still impaled in her palm; dried blood cells caked around the meeting point of flesh and glass to seal the injury together. Somewhere between panic and fear, she had forgotten completely about it.

His hand carefully grabbed a hold of her wrist as he ran his thumb down along the ragged flesh of her palm; the contact was painful as the tip of his nail scraped away the dried blood flakes and allowed small beads of fresh blood to push out. She watched as he seemed to study the injury before he slowly raised it to his lips. There was a small crunching noise as the shard was gradually pulled loose from the muscles strands and carefully eased out of the flesh. What few nerves that were still working instantly fired up as pain seemed to numb her hand and spread a tingling sensation to her fingertips. But she was far too distracted by him to even bother with the pain; watching as he balanced the shard between his teeth before he let it fall to the ground. He pulled her hand forward once more and let the tip of his tongue run across the jagged wound. Fresh streams of blood trailed down her palm and dripped in heavy droplets to the floor; the same crimson liquid now lightly coated his tongue. It was an odd…technique but she could feel some of the pain slowly start to ease away and feeling return to her fingertips.

"I-" she started; watching as those amber eyes slowly looked down into her own. "How-"

A light chuckle escaped his lips as he released his grip and allowed her to return her hand back to the safety of her side. He cupped one side of her jawline and tilted her head up as he leaned down to brush his lips against her forehead. "Like I said before…" he trailed downward to touch the soft dip between her eyes. "It's easier to understand…" he grazed the small bridge of her nose. "If you don't think about it." his last words were whispered right against her lips.

It was a cold touch as he closed the space between them; his lips lightly mimicking her own. For a moment, she felt that paralyzing fear creep back up her body but just the same her hands came up to greet his flesh. Fingers softly curled into his jawline as she pushed back with just a light amount of pressure. Why? Even now, he frightened her so badly, given the chance she would more likely bolt. But instead…she stayed; she was standing here, right in front of him. She was letting him touch her and kiss her and she was all the more happy to allow him that, if not more. But he was a monster. He was slowly sliding further into some kind of mental instability; she could see it in his eyes and that crazy grin of his. It was just like before… Her fingertips dug harder into his flesh the more she thought about it; the more his tongue softly coaxed her own, the more she wanted to press her body against him despite the natural reaction to run away. The taste of blood on his lips made her cringe and yet she never once thought to pull away.

Part of her felt like it needed this- like it needed this kind of closure.

The other part pushed tears out of her closed eyelids as her heart thundered with fear in her chest.

"I can almost feel your heartbeat." he whispered; lips just barely breaking away from her own long enough to speak.

She slowly looked up at the remark before she took note of the sudden drop in his energy level; feeling his grip tighten slightly, she watched as his hands dropped away before his entire body fell forward. She hesitated for a moment before she quickly reached out and slipped her arms underneath his own; catching his body against her. He literally felt weightless in her grasp as she strengthen her hold on him and slowly lowered the both of them to the ground. For a moment, she thought he had died on her. There was absolutely no movement coming from his body, even his wings had fallen still and laid completely motionless against the floor. Again…she was unsure how to feel about it; if he were to die…how was she supposed to react? In this form, the only thing she could see was the monster that had put her here in the first place; the creature that had made her suffer through the feeling of her own body being ripped apart from the inside out. But the only thing that kept her from running was the sheer helplessness he was in this condition. His breathing was light and shallow; she could just barely feel the heated exhales against her neck. Actually…that wasn't the only thing that was holding her back. It wasn't like she could deny the fact that he had risked his health for her earlier when he pushed her out of the way of that sword; or when he had defended her as well. Her fingers ran lightly through his hair and brushed them away from his face; watching as not even a single facial muscle twitched.

"You have to care for the ones you love…sometimes they're the only ones you have."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I don't know how many times I've have to re-read this chapter but it seems like it keeps getting longer every time. So many revisions but I'm happy with the outcome once more.**

His breathing had strengthened but the condition of the rest of his body had dropped severely.

It literally looked like every ounce of fat and muscle tissue had been depleted and left only skin and bones behind. She could count every rib and every empty dip between each one; the end of his ribcage curved inward and plunged deep into the fall of his stomach, which really wasn't much of a stomach at this point. The worn out sash around his waist was just barely able to conceal his now protruding pelvic bones and the sunken form of his waist and hips. It looked like the skin had tightened itself and hugged the clavicle, shoulder joint and humerus; exposing the skeletal structure easily. She could almost see the empty dip between Radius and Ulna of his forearm and rounded joint of his wrist. The middle of his ribcage dipped in slightly to show off the barely rising motion of his chest with every small inhale of breath. His skin was incredible pale and almost showed off the small veins beneath the surface; every now and then she would detect a light twitch behind his eyelids but in the few hours she had been watching him, there were only few other movements aside from that.

He was conscious though, she knew that much. He had been softly running the back of his fingers up and down the shape of her arm for the past hour or so; every now and then he would pause and she would silently count to ten before he would start back up again. She didn't know why he was running his fingers against her, but at least it gave her a sure sign that he was still alive and somewhat conscious. Well at least he was alive. She listened as he groan lightly before he raised a hand to his face and pushed up on his glasses. There were already a few selective words that quietly slipped from his tongue as he pressed his fingers against one temple now.

"Where am I?"

His smooth voice was now slightly raspy but it was reassuring nonetheless. She carefully brushed aside several of his loose bangs and watched as he slightly turned away from the motion. "You passed out after the battles." she started; returning her hand to her lap. "You were in pretty bad shape, so I brought you back to your room once you returned to your normal form."

He nodded lightly at the answer and moved his other hand to rest slightly perched on his deformed stomach. "Why am I shirtless?"

"You came out of your form like that." she shrugged lightly.

"Well at least I kept my pants." he replied faintly; gaining a small chuckle from her.

"Can I ask…why are you in this state?"

A low, yet heavy sigh left his pale lips at the question. "It could be a variety of things to be honest. Normally when I do go into Resurrección, it does cause a mild form of mental insanity to occur, which will occasionally carry back over when I step out of that form. Now due to this, it can cause yet another series of reactions. Mental breakdown is usually common and usually more dangerous for the days following. I've only had a physical breakdown occur twice before, and this is basically what it does- the different body cells are attacking each other and basically eating away at the muscle tissue mostly. It's more exhausting than painful and I usually try to avoid most physical movement, which isn't easy. And then there's the emotional breakdown, which I've only experienced once but I don't remember anything about it. All I know is from what Nnoitra told me and it was something about how I stayed in one corner of the room and laughed for about three days straight. I wouldn't really trust his word on that though." he paused slightly to catch his breath before he continued. "There's also another possible effect though…I don't really remember much but when I went into Resurrección form, I remember there was something different about it. It seemed like it was still infected."

"Infected?"

"Yeah it's like my physical body was able to cure itself of that super human drug but my sword wasn't. So when I went into release and combined the two…it might've caused for most of my body cells to attack one another, mostly the cells that were still affected. Unfortunately, there were a lot more of those than expected."

"So…then your body's suffering a physical break because of that drug."

"Layman's terms, yeah."

She nodded lightly. "Well I guess it would make sense."

"Well that's really all I got right now and my head hurts far too much to try and find another answer for it." he shrugged. "Which brings up another question…what exactly happened before I passed out? I vaguely remember killing some of the Arrancars, probably with their own clones if I had to make a guess. And before you answer that, I just want to say if I did anything or said anything offensive, don't hold it against me; in that state, anything can occur."

She chuckled lightly and wrapped her arms around her knees, which were almost pressed against her chest; pulling herself off the wall behind her. "I fought off a few remaining Arrancars myself but ended up messing up my leg pretty bad. Actually I really only killed two of them…another Espada showed up and managed to scare off the others."

"Another Espada?" he questioned.

"A female one." she nodded. "She was really quiet and I could only see her eyes."

"Hmm…Harribel." he replied. "What was she doing here?"

"I don't know, she said something about how she sensed your energy levels and that it seemed like something was different, so she dropped in to see what the problem was. Then she ran into me." she started. "You know, when she said your name, I didn't even think about the possible danger I was in or the chance that she could've easily taken me out in one hit; all I could think of was the fact that I didn't know where you were and I didn't know if you were okay. We talked for a bit but I managed to get out of the conversation and head off to find you." she paused for a moment before she continued on. "I…I walked in at the end of the battle. I didn't really notice anything at first, I guess it was because I was too worried about you to even perceive what state you were in. But when I did notice…it literally felt like my blood ran cold. There was this sense of fear I have never felt before in my life but it was powerful enough to make me want to run away from you. I remembered what happened with my first encounter and I didn't want to repeat that; I didn't want to repeat the pain. For some reason, I wouldn't take my eyes off you but I wouldn't go near you either. I absolutely refused to." she ceased once as his fingers stopped softly brushing her arm. "But eventually I pushed myself towards you; you were injured and I had to make sure that it wasn't life-threatening or anything. At the least I had to make sure you were okay. And when you said you weren't going to hurt me again, I guess that gave me a little reassurance. You had this hazy look in your eyes like you were looking at me but you couldn't really see me. I guess that's why you seemed pretty content with just talking to me and touching me; as long as you had some kind of assurance that I was there, you were fine. We talked but didn't really say much…and then you kissed me. You passed out soon after that and for a moment, I thought you had died. I'm sure I was on the verge of panicking at that point and…my initial reaction was to run. Even after suppressing that feeling though, I was still scared and I couldn't get the image of our first encounter out of my head. I couldn't leave though; I didn't want to. So…I stayed with you; I counted every breath and watched for every little movement just to make sure you were still alive."

He waited for her to finish before he continued to run the back of his fingers up and down the curve of her arm. "Two hundred forty-eight beats a minute. That's how fast your heart was beating."

"You still remember that?" she questioned; leaning back against the wall behind her.

"For some reason, I do." he nodded. "But I guess I should be thankful I didn't do anything too inappropriate in that form. At least I didn't try and cop-a-feel or anything."

"If you had, you would've woken up in worse shape than this."

He chuckled lightly at her response. "That is a scary thought."

"I guess in your condition it would be." she replied.

"Let me ask you one more question." he started. "Why did you stay? I mean, why did you stay after I passed out? I wouldn't have remembered much anyways and…I guess I should be pretty used to just waking up in odd places with no recollections."

"Because…you have to care for the ones you love." she answered; feeling his touch pause once more. "Let's face it…this isn't physical anymore."

"It hasn't been for awhile now, has it?"

"No, it really hasn't."

He chuckled lightly and slowly pulled his eyes opened. "How the hell did we manage to swing that?"

"I have no clue." she shrugged lightly. "But I guess at this point, it doesn't really matter how."

"It just happens, I guess." he remarked; running his fingers down along her arm before he slipped them underneath her hand and tangled them with her own. He gently pulled her hand closer to him to examine the darker bruises around the knuckles now; he could tell they had been popped back into place but that didn't help to hide the damage that had been done already. "You should really get some ice on this before the swelling gets bad." moving his hand to slightly cradle her wrist, he turned her own hand around to show off the deeply cut palm. The bruised gash and a build up of dried blood proved that the wound had had time to heal a bit but only at the top layers; the damage underneath to the small muscle strands and tendons would take a bit longer. "What happened here?"

"I fell in some glass." she answered; watching as he took his time to carefully examine the gash. "It was actually quite a bit of broken glass to be honest."

"Broken glass?"

"Yeah, they had a field day with breaking everything in your lab." she replied.

A low sigh and a few curses left his lips as he carefully returned her hand to her lap; his fingers brushing over the rough material that bandaged her right leg next. "And let me guess on how you exactly messed up your leg."

"I don't think you need to guess at this point." she remarked; watching as he ran his hand along the thick bandages around her thigh. "Do you always-"

"Have to keep some kind of physical touch?" he finished. "I figured you would ask that eventually."

"It doesn't bother me." she assured. "I was just curious."

"No, it's fine. It's just that, like I probably said before, my mental state is really not where it should be and at this point really anything could happen." he started. "The last time I had an outbreak like that, I ended up skinning most of my right arm with my own fingernails; there was blood all over the place and it took weeks for the skin to grow back. I'm pretty sure I had to be locked up in some place till the thing blew over."

"So this keeps your mind off it then?" she questioned.

"It gives me something else to focus on and helps to keep the instability under control." he commented. "Just as well…it gives me a stable base to hold on to; like I had said before, I can't see myself hurting you again and at the least, I can remember that."

She carefully took his hand into her own and pressed the back of it against her lips. "I believed you when you said it then…and I still believe you even now."

He chuckled lightly at the feel of her soft lips against his crippled flesh. "You know, I guess I figured we would be more romantic in a situation like this but given the circumstances…I'm still pretty pleased with it."

"Hmm, well maybe you'll get a chance for that when you're in a better health condition." she replied.

"Whenever that happens, I don't think I'll be too worried about-" he started; stopping mid-sentence. "Wait…how long have I been out?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the question as she tried to recall the time lapses. "A few hours maybe?"

"Aw fuck." he muttered as he reluctantly pulled his hand from her grasp before he slowly pushed himself up from the mattress. His bones popped and cracked as they were displaced momentarily and then shifted back into their proper arrangement. It felt like every single, small motion was enough to completely exhaust what energy he had left; his arms shook slightly at the sudden effort just to push himself up. The abrupt movement was enough to cripple his breathing into short, rapid gasps as he leaned forward enough to take the weight off his arms. "Fuck again…"

She took note of every single rib that seemed to protrude from his back through the thin layer of skin covering them; the rounded edges of his vertebra almost seemed like they could easily rip out through the tissue. Her fingers briefly skimmed over curved ribs before they settled against the hollow curl of his back; she could almost feel and see his lungs fluttering with every sharp breath he took. "Don't overexert yourself." she started; watching as he took the brief moment to recover from his shift. "What is it?"

"If it's been a few hours without any other disturbances, then that means the rebellion's either over, everyone's dead or we've made some kind of treaty with the Arrancars." he started; recovering just enough to now slowly swing his legs over the side of the bed. "Which means, we're all going to need to gather collectively soon and pass on what information we learned or at least to make sure we're all still alive." he carefully pushed himself to his feet and tested out his weight on his legs. "So, that means that I-"

"Have to leave and meet with them." she finished; watching as he seemed to fare well on his feet but standing at full height, it showed off just how depleted his body had become. "Are you sure you can even handle it?"

"Probably not but I would prefer that everyone didn't come busting down here either; that's not really something I want to deal with right now." he sighed as he walked over to the separate room that broke off from the main bedroom.

She watched as he disappeared into a side room for a moment; sighing lightly herself as she tried to find some hold on the situation. It didn't feel like that many hours had passed, then again she had been so busy doing so many things at once, she never really bothered to figure with the time. After he had reverted back to his normal form, she remembered how she had carefully transported him to this room; he was slightly heavier than when he was in release but it still wasn't much of a challenge for her. After that, it was more of a blur of different actions. She remembered tending to her own injuries and having to painstakingly remove every shard of glass from flesh and muscle. Then there was making sure that there were no more Arrancar attacks. Somewhere between different actions, she stopped to check on him and chose to stay when he started to show symptoms of consciousness. Did that really occur that long ago? It seemed like it had been just minutes maybe…The sound of his returning steps caused her to look up once more and watch as he stepped back into the view with his full uniform back together. The tight-fitting material seemed to only emphasize his deteriorated form as it clung to show off his visible ribcage and chest plate; the fabric tightened together around his shoulders to almost expose the raw joints.

"And if anything, I suppose I'll just pass out about halfway there." he shrugged lightly; tugging slightly on the cuff of his sleeve to adjust it perfectly over his glove.

"Should I go with you just in case?"

"I don't think that will-" he started; glancing up at her question before he stopped once more. Of the short time they had just spent together, he had failed to fully evaluate her condition and status. Her right leg was tightly bandaged from about her upper thigh down to her knee and mid-calf; small spots of blood showed through sporadically to indicate every minor wound underneath. Bruises darkened several marks on her face and outlined the severity with black and purple stains. Her black locks that had been pulled back into a tight braid were now half tied and half loosened to form a rather messy-looking shadow of its former self. But the one thing that did catch his eye now, was the fact that her signature black kimono was now missing. Instead, she was now dressed in the same tight-fitting material he wore; identical in design to the shirt he was wearing now. The only difference was that the fabric had a much harder time stretching itself across her ample breasts; stretch marks cursed the seams of the article as any extra material scrunched itself underneath her chest, ultimately shortening the length of the shirt. Hell, even the three black lines that ran down the front seemed to be displaced a bit.

"That will be what?" she questioned; noting his sudden stopping point.

"I…it wasn't important." he assured after he lost his train of thought for the moment. "I'm sure this meeting will be brief and short-lived; I doubt any of us really want to deal with it anyways." carefully adjusting his collar, he walked over to her and placed his hands down to greet her sides. "We can talk more about this when I get back."

She felt his lips brush against her forehead as they had done before; her eyes closed at the warm touch and she almost wished it didn't have to leave. "I-"

"Shh." he whispered; dipping his lips to brush against her own. "Save it for later."

There was a hint of tension at his words as she lightly cupped her hands against his jaw and pulled him forward; it was just enough of a draw to eliminate the space between them. He felt her turn the simple brush into full contact as he followed her motions and slowly pressed forward with them. It felt like it had been ages since he had last kissed her and yet she tasted just the same. She still managed to leave him breathless and tempted by the want for more.

"Be careful, I'll hold you to that." she replied; brushing her fingers through his parting strands.

"I wouldn't expect less from you." he spoke; saving just one more kiss for her before he pushed himself away. There was a burning temptation that made him want to stay, but he had to attend to his other duties first, unfortunately.

**

* * *

**"It's over."

"The remaining rebels took off as soon as they started to sense their other kin dying off and realized they were really no match for us from the beginning." Harribel spoke. "I don't expect them to be showing up anytime soon, not after that kind of bloodshed."

Nell sighed and crossed her arms as she tried to balance her weight on the leg that hurt less. "Well I have to admit, they had a pretty good run. Some of them were tougher than we expected and I will say that they certainly gave us a struggle. Maybe in the future when all this clears up and blows over, we can try to guide them back to our forces."

"Well I had fun killing them." Nnoitra shrugged. "Nothing like a good killing exercise to get back into shape."

"No one here is surprised by that remark." Szayel sighed. "In fact, we expected it."

"There's about to be one less person standing in this room."

"Alright look, the good news is that we're all still alive and in mostly good health." Starrk spoke; interrupting the two. "But this is probably where I should introduce the bad news. The Arrancars managed to implement a lot of structural damage and they completely decimated the healers' wing; there's nothing left of it aside from ashes and dust."

"Now, we managed to get most of the healers out in time." Harribel started. "But they were the only ones we could harvest. We lost everything else."

"It's a strategic move on their part. If they could get rid of our healers then technically that would cripple our physical health and leave us to eventually collapse under growing injuries." Szayel explained. "Now there's a few flaws in that move, seeing as we don't absolutely depend on our healers to fix our injuries; both Nell and myself have enough healing techniques to keep things under control and hopefully be able to clear away from something fatal. I don't believe that information was revealed to them and if it was, their attempts to take us out were foiled in the end."

"Regardless, I'm glad we managed to salvage of a few of the healers." Nell remarked. "I don't think I would be up to healing in this condition."

"Wait a minute, let's back it up here and go back to the whole destruction of healer wing whatnot." Nnoitra started. "Didn't we put the bodies there?"

Starrk sighed and nodded. "That was the whole bad part of the news. Like we said, we only managed to save a majority of the healers before the whole thing went up in flames. We tried to get to them or at least stop the Arrancars but we underestimated their destructive ability…then again the wing was already damaged from before, in hindsight we should've seen this occurrence."

"We've wasted enough time mourning the dead… If we have to live on with the people standing just here, then so be it." Harribel spoke. "Maybe it was a reckless idea from the start; maybe we should've thought it through but for now…there's no more turning back and regretting our decisions. I believe it's official now. Our old life is gone. We can finally start living for the future now, instead of for the past."

"Were we supposed to be mourning them?" Nnoitra questioned; earning a sharp strike from Nell's elbow.

"So now what do we do?" Nell asked; hoping to cover over his remark.

"Well for now, I recommend that we all try to get some rest before we do anything." Starrk answered. "We have a lot on our hands to deal with right now and…it's not going to be easy for anyone here; we're going to need to do a lot of structural reconstruction and try to set up another temporary healer's wing, not to mention fix a lot of the damages from before. But for now…I'm sure everyone just wants to get a few days of rest in and recollect over everything that's happened."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Nell sighed.

"Alright, well if no one has any further questions or comments-" Starrk started as he stepped back.

"Hang on, where's Ulquiorra?" Nnoitra interrupted.

"I believe he's with that Orihime girl…he requested to skip this meeting to stay with her." Starrk answered.

"Oh I bet he did."

"Nnoitra, stop being inappropriate."

"Unfortunately, that's one of the few things in this world that remains constant." Szayel remarked; watching as the man turned to glare at him. "Don't give me that look."

Starrk shook his head as he ran his hand over the back of his neck; massaging the tight muscles. "Alright, well you guys can stay here and argue all you want, I'm going to head back to my room- or what's left of it- and sleep."

"I'm going to see if I can't get the showers to work long enough to wash myself down." Nell commented.

"You're going to need something more relevant to a hose to do that."

"Nnoitra!"

Szayel watched as Nell departed with Nnoitra somewhat following behind her; there was something odd going on between those two…he just couldn't make it out at this point though. Yes, they held up their consistent arguing and attacks on one another, but there was something different in their tones. It was like they were more teasing each other rather than firing at each other with sharp tongues. It was a frightening thought that they might actually be putting their harsh past aside…and an impossible one at that too. Shaking his head, he simply pushed the two from his mind; he had far more important things to think about and worry over rather than those two.

"Shouldn't you be heading back now?" he looked up at the question and took note that Harribel herself had never once moved from her spot; they were the only two left out of the small group. "After all that chaos and fighting, I'm sure you'd like to keep a closer eye on that girl of yours."

He already knew there was no way of getting out of this confrontation. That look in her eyes said that she wanted more out of this conversation other than well-thought out bullshit. "Well now, it would be a lie to say that you were wrong, Harribel. And I should be getting back, but I have a feeling you'll want a bit more out of me now that I have to give you some answers."

"I imagine she told you about my visit then." Harribel replied. "Then again, I shouldn't doubt her trust in you; she told you everything."

"Your arrival was unexpected but not entirely unwelcome." he started; pausing for a brief moment before he continued. "She didn't tell me anything that you talked about…I didn't question it though; if anything, I figured that moment was between you and her and it should stay that way."

"We didn't say much." Harribel commented. "What little we did say had nothing to do with us."

"Well now, that makes me a bit uneasy."

She crossed her arms and watched as he dropped his own as if in response. "I can't say that I actually have anything to remark on this. I won't deny that I was indeed surprised by her appearance there but…that wasn't the thing that got me. There was a sound in her voice when she talked about you and something in her eyes when she reacted to your energy. It's not like I meant to try to separate you two, but she looked almost willing to go through me to get to you; despite her poor condition and weakening strength, she was still ready to fight. Now I can't say that I really know the extent of your relationship with this woman but-"

"I wanted to convince myself that it was just a physical lust." he carefully interrupted. "That maybe over time those feelings would be discarded and passed off as a wounded moment…but somewhere along the way, things changed. It almost seems ironic though, of all the people she had to fall for, she fell for me; in reality, I was the one who caused her the most pain and got her stuck here in the first place. But as much as I keep thinking back on that, I can't find myself regretting what I had to do. I can only assume that somewhere along the way, we managed to work past that point and kept moving forward."

She listened carefully to his words and picked up on the light change of tone in his voice when he spoke about her. "Let me ask you one question. Do you love her?"

He paused slightly, almost hesitating to answer. "I think I'm starting to look at her like Starrk looks at you."

She couldn't hide the look of surprise in her eyes at his words as she carefully dropped her arms back to her sides. "I guess that's my answer then."


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: I was just ready to upload this and then realized something didn't seem right with it, so I had to redo the entire thing. **

His talk with Harribel had been short-lived but it was all he needed to know. He guessed they couldn't do too badly with the future if everyone was as 'happy' as they seemed. After all, Harribel and Starrk had the support of each other; Nell kept Nnoitra in check or vise versa; and…well he didn't actually know much about Ulquiorra and his relationship with Orihime, aside from the rude comments Nnoitra made about the two. Hopefully things couldn't get any worse at this point, not that there were any other reasonable, plausible events that could occur out of the blue. At least none that he could think of, then again he wasn't exactly in the greatest condition to be outwardly thinking as he usually did.

Letting out a long sigh, he ran his hand through his hair and pushed it from his face; in reality, he hadn't been gone that long but in his head it felt like it had been days since he last rested. Pushing aside the entrance door, a refreshing wave of cold air eased away the burning temperature from the sun and helped to cool his flesh. He walked down the narrow corridors till it opened up into the main entrance room; stopping as soon as he noticed he wasn't alone.

"How long have you been waiting?"

"Just a few minutes."

He could never get tired of those beautiful green eyes looking up at him. Chuckling lightly, he walked over to where she was seated on a collapsed part of a former wall; his hand taking her own as he carefully helped her up to her feet. "Why do I doubt that?"

"Because you seem to be rarely satisfied by just simple answers." she replied; her hands lightly resting on his waist.

"That seems logical." he nodded.

"Should I even bother to ask how the meeting went or would you prefer to rest first?" she questioned.

"Is the answer obvious?"

Her hand grabbed one of his own before she carefully pulled him forward; fingers tangling with his as she slowly lead him through the wide-open, mostly destroyed entrance room and towards his bedroom. He chuckled lightly as his fingers cradled her own and allowed her to pull him gently across the room. But as exhausted as he was, physically and mentally, he couldn't help but to notice her wardrobe once more. The shirt helped to emphasize the strong muscles of her back and the flawless arch of her shoulder-blades. When standing, the material just barely made it to her upper thigh- making it just long enough to cover what was needed. The spandex-like fabric pulled clean across her wide hips and helped to accent the smooth transition of every motion and the roll of every step. It openly exposed her long legs that were bruised and cut, but gorgeous regardless; the bandages on her right leg were turning a bit more red and contributed to the minor, barely noticeable limp that occurred every few steps. She didn't show any hints of pain but it was her body reacting to the damages already done. He gently squeezed her hand and felt her return the gesture almost instantly as they walked in through the bedroom door.

"I take it that it went fairly well then." she remarked as she paused for a moment to allow him to step around her.

"You could say so." he replied.

"In what manner?"

He chuckled lightly and sat down on the edge of the bed; his hands pulling her forward enough to settle her body in front of him. "Well the rebellion is over, everyone's pretty calm and so far, no conflicts with one another. Not to mention, for the next few days everyone will be resting and ultimately ignoring each other, so I guess it would seem like we all have our own world."

"I guess I just assumed we did; it's the only way this makes sense, right?" she commented as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"In some way, shape or form, yes."

Sighing lightly, she brushed her fingers through his hair and removed a few thin strands from his face; fingertips lightly skimming the edges of his glasses in the process. "I guess there will be a time for answers later."

"Well now, I am curious to ask about one thing." he started; moving his hands to rest on her hips for a moment. "Why exactly…are you wearing one of my shirts?"

She had actually forgotten she was wearing the uniform top. "My other uniform had been damaged during the fighting. I changed out of it between the battles and waiting for you to wake up; it was the only other article of clothing I could find on short notice. It's about the same length of my kimono, so I didn't have a problem with just wearing the shirt. It is a bit tight fitting though…"

"That's what I like about it." he chuckled. "Although…white really doesn't seem to suit you well; black is really more of your color. However, I think with the different attributes and additional details here or there, the uniform doesn't look too bad- in fact, I'm rather impressed by it."

She shook her head lightly and brought her hands to cup his jawline; dipping down to merely brush her lips against his forehead. "Says the man whose sword is named Fornicaras."

He curled his fingers against her jaw and pulled her down to bring those lips against his own. "Well now, I can't say much about that."

"That's a first."

The mattress squeaked from their combined weight as their bodies rolled softly across the disarranged sheets; hands tangled in the thin fabric that separated them as lips barely touched and yet balanced against one another. The temptation was all the more present as they traced and outlined every bodily feature within reach; fingertips exposing the smoldering want and desire to touch and burn bare flesh.

"We shouldn't-" she started; fingertips grasping at his shoulders as she made no real move to even separate their actions.

His hands drifted along the soft curves of her jawline as he brought his lips against her own; they just barely brushed together as he watched those gentle eyes close before him. "Just one more…" he whispered; closing the space between them. She gave no hesitation into following his motion as her fingers curled into his chest. It felt like every ounce of pain and exhaustion escaped his body as her lips and tongue softly coaxed his own. Her sweet taste and delicate touch was all that was needed to settle the lure of temptation as he traced soft circles into her cheeks; her hands slowly copied his method as she made the same circular motion against his chest. As the supply of oxygen between them slowly began to deplete, he still longed for just one more.

Their separation was marked by soft gasps as their lips continued to merely brush yet pull away from one another. He caught those eyes just barely peeking out from underneath her eyelids as she continued to run her hands in small circles now. Moving slowly, he brushed his fingers through her dark bangs and pushed aside the loose strands from her face; fingertips lightly stroking her warm flesh.

**

* * *

**"It's been a long day."

She looked up at the remark and chuckled lightly as she closed the door behind her. "Starrk, you say that like I wasn't there."

"Hmm…well I figured it was worth mentioning one more time." he replied.

Harribel shook her head lightly as she looked down at the man who was sprawled over his large collection of pillows. He was face-down in the pile like he had just collapsed and didn't even bother moving himself into a more comfortable position. Walking over towards him, she quietly took the empty place beside him and leaned back against the unbelievably soft pillows; the cold material felt nice against her heated flesh and supported her aching muscles. "As much as I would like to rest, there's still much we have to discuss."

He turned his head and watched as she folded her hands into her lap; allowing for the pillows to support her back and shoulders. Reaching over, he carefully placed his hand on top of hers and lightly squeezed them together. "I know it wasn't easy for you to say that. It wasn't easy to let go."

She sighed deeply and wrapped both hands around his own. "There are no words to describe it. I saved them; I protected them with my life and gave them something to fight for. They fought for me and in the end, they gave up their lives. I will carry on their sacrifices for as long as I shall live and cherish what memories we had."

It was agonizing to hear that broken tone in her voice but she never once let it break her speech. The situation wasn't hopeless, they still had a chance but…they had all agreed that at this point, the dead needed to rest. Just like the rest of them. "We've all had losses and we've all suffered defeats…but we've gotten this far. And if we've made this far, I don't think there's much else that can stop us." he paused slightly before he continued. "As long as I have you by my side, I believe we'll be fine."

"We may be fine…but what about the others?" she teased.

"They'll survive." Starrk chuckled. "At least I think."

"You know…we do have quite a situation on our hands here." Harribel started. "It seems as though, there's quite a bit of bundles in Hueco Mundo."

"Is someone pregnant?" he questioned almost fearfully.

"No but we shouldn't rule that out." she replied; watching as his facial expression stiffened slightly; it almost appeared comical really. "But…we do have one with a human girl and another with a Shinigami."

"What? When did- are you telling me everything Nnoitra's been commenting on, has been true?"

"Unfortunately yes."

Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned back over to being face-down in the pillows. "So…what do we do about it?"

"We don't do anything." Harribel answered. "At least nothing to compromise it, I would think. But I think we should remain connected to it. I don't know if these kind of…'relationships' will last or even mean much but we can observe and see where they go. I would disregard inputting ourselves into the relationship but we can still be open to it. Our numbers are few and lingering, we can't afford to make an enemy with our comrades."

"I guess we could do that." Starrk nodded; turning himself over to rest on his back. "After all, who are we to say what's right or wrong? Maybe this kind of thing will actually help us."

"We'll just have to sit back and watch." Harribel remarked as she carefully allowed herself to seek a more comfortable position against the pillows. "Perhaps we should attempt to actually mingle with them."

"Let's not go that far." he chuckled teasingly as he turned his body in towards her own; his arm carefully curling over her side. "Can we continue this conversation some other time?"

She watched as he attempted to stifle some kind of yawn but failed miserably. "Perhaps."

He leaned over and nuzzled the soft curve of her shoulder; his arm tightening slightly around her. "Tia…"

"Coyote."


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Totally forgot to upload this chapter for some odd reason. **

The metallic taste of blood on his tongue slowly drew him away from sleep. Groaning lightly, he struggled to open his eyes as he ran the back of his hand across his lips. He took note of the crimson color that smeared itself across his glove before he touched back at his lips; watching as only more red showed up. Of course, how could he have forgotten about the whole vomiting blood part that typically followed a physical breakdown? Slowly pushing himself up on his arms, he glanced over at the women sleeping next to him. A complete look of serenity and solace dressed her as she shifted slightly in her sleep before she fell still once more. He tried not to wake her as he slowly pushed himself off the bed and got to his feet. Walking out of the bedroom, he paused slightly as he tried to figure out whether he wanted to walk through the labs or just teleport to where he wanted to be. Walking would conserve more energy than having to open up a minor portal, but then again he wasn't really up to having a field trip either. Sighing, he simply reached out and summoned a black, rectangular portal just inches in front of him. He could already feel the energy practically drain through his fingertips but managed to keep it from completely affecting his physical health. He stepped easily through the open portal and savored the pitch darkness for a moment before he reappeared just in front of the washing room. Stretching lightly to ease the sleep out of his muscles, he pushed aside the door and walked over to where the sink rested in front of the extended mirror. Stripping off his gloves, he touched at where the blood had coated his bottom lip in perfect layers; most of the blood trailed down out of the left corner and slid down to his neck. This was just perfect. Because the one thing he needed to lose more of was blood.

Grabbing for the small glass he always kept aside, he filled it halfway full of water from the faucet. Unfortunately, the water barely slid down his throat before his body automatically rejected it. He barely turned in time as the water passed back through his lips; this time followed by a few more milliliters of blood. Choking slightly on the extra streams of blood, he spat out anything that remained before he pushed himself away from the red-coated sink bowl. Snatching the nearby hand towel, he wiped away any remaining blood spill on his flesh before he tossed it aside for later clean up; as much as he was a perfectionist when he came to cleaning things, he was really in no mood to deal with the hassle now. Stepping away, he walked back out of the room and through the changing room on the other side. He might as well walk around and try to get a better assessment on the damages. He knew there were a few walls destroyed and some of the floor tiles had been blasted from their places. If the damages weren't as bad as he was hoping then rebuilding it shouldn't take too long. Then again there was a difference in a hypothesis and an observation.

He didn't have to go far to see the extent of the damage. In fact, there seemed to be a very evident trail of it that connected them all together in a destructive path. There was wrecked furniture and counters everywhere; bodies and body parts were kind of slewed about and there was blood all over the place. Quite a bit of structural damage but it was mostly just surface mutilation which meant they could just pull up what was no longer useable and then replace it with another cover; it helped to avoid having to repair foundation damage, which was a pain to even think about. He paused slightly at the sound of something cracking underneath him and looked down to see a graveyard of glass shards underfoot. There was blood smeared all over the place in a dry red pool with smaller droplets that lead off to some place else in the room. That was a lot of broken glass. Where the hell did they find that much stuff to break anyways? Just how-

Aw damn.

Sighing, he turned away from the scene and headed back the way he came from. Of course, how could he have forgotten already? Backtracking through the mostly destroyed rooms, he paused slightly just in the doorway of his bedroom; partly because the walk ended up being longer than he expected.

She was still asleep but had managed to roll herself over onto her other side; one arm just barely hanging off the side of the bed. He couldn't help but to notice how the shirt was now slightly pulled around her figure and bundled up on one side to show off a bare curve. Walking quietly over to her, he touched lightly at her bandaged leg; taking note of how the white material was now even more blood-stained than before. Just the brush of his fingertips seemed to stir her slightly as she moved her leg to make contact with his own in a harsh collision.

"Hmmm…" she groaned as she slowly pushed herself onto her back. One hand came up to push her dark bangs from her face before her fingertips continued to trail down to trace the outline of her face. "Why are you awake so soon?"

"And why are you not?" he replied.

Carefully placing her hands behind her, she pushed herself away from the mattress and into a stiff sitting position. Most of her body felt numb, which couldn't have been a good thing, but at this point it was the least of her worries. Switching her attention back to him, she watched as he stood by the bedside and seemed to thinking off on something else. "What is it?"

"Your leg's gotten worse." he commented. "I was trying to think of all the different options we have on how to fix it. If it's not too severe, I should be able to heal it myself but if not, I'll have to get one of the healers down here, which could be awhile."

She looked down at the now blood-soaked bandage that had worked itself loose from around her leg. "It can't be that bad."

"Yeah well, I can't really take your word for it till I see it myself." he reminded as he carefully grabbed a hold of her legs and pulled them over the side of the bed; watching as the change caught her slightly off-guard and forced her to change her position. Keeping a hold on her injured leg, he held it out with one hand as he slowly pulled the bandages off with the other. Layers of layers of blood-stained gauze fell to the floor in crumbled heaps as deep gashes and heavy bruises scarred their way down her leg. "Okay, so it's not so much the injuries as much as it is the bleeding." carefully running his hand down part of her leg, he noted how the split flesh bubbled out small streams of blood for a few seconds before it ceased. "Some of these are really deep too, which isn't too harmful but it's not good either. We should've looked into healing these earlier."

"It's not life threatening…like yours was." she commented. "A little leg injury isn't going to put me out."

"True." he agreed. "But regardless, I don't want you bleeding all over everything. Blood is very difficult to get out of white."

"Well maybe if you didn't collect everything that was white."

"White is very spacious, okay." he sighed as he let her take her leg back. "Just wait here while I go get something from the lab that should be able to close up most of these injuries. And if there's anything else that should receive my attention, be sure to tell me."

He left the room before she could even get a word in about it. Shaking her head lightly, she looked over her leg before she carefully rubbed at her split side that had been wrapped up earlier. Aside from her leg and cut sides, the rest of her injuries were mainly just bruises and maybe some minor swelling here or there. It wasn't much to worry about so she couldn't understand why he was making a big fuss about it. If anything, he was the one in the more serious condition- not her.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How we're going to solve this." she answered; glancing over to where he was standing in the doorway.

"If you're talking about your leg, I have this experimental ointment that should be able to seal up most, if not all, of the cuts. You have to use it sparsely or else every piece of skin will seal together and then pretty much make like a massive collection of flesh that resembles a tumor." he started as he pushed himself off the doorframe and walked back in towards her. "However, if you're talking about something else…I'm not entirely sure how to solve that one."

She watched as he carefully tossed the ointment bottle onto the bed before he took one more look at the open gashes. "I didn't know either."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out sooner or later." he remarked as he retrieved the ointment bottle once more and tossed the lid aside.

The off-colored cream went on cold and burned slightly as it seeped into every open gash; there was also a tingling feeling as it sped up the healing process and sealed the flesh back together. His fingers carefully coated each gash one by one till every single one had been sealed back up. She watched as he narrowed his eyes slightly before he seemed to toss whatever matter troubled him aside.

"Were there any other injuries?" he questioned as he carefully ran his hand over the freshly healed skin; the only thing else that remained were small, white spotted scars that would eventually go away within a day or so.

"I wish you would stop worrying." she remarked.

"I am not worrying." he denied. "I'm just simply taking this on from a medical standpoint. The last thing anyone here needs is the risk of an infection and who knows what's already gotten into the injury just seconds after it was ripped open."

She shook her head lightly at his words as she started to tug the zipper down from the shirt collar. The material seemed to give in willingly to the release of tension as it sprung away the moment it was free. She could practically feel his eyes observing every inch of skin that became available to view. Slowly moving the zipper along, she felt it pull open as it reached the bottom of the shirt before she carefully peeled away the loose edges; keeping it together just enough to at least keep her breasts concealed. For the most part, her sides were lightly bandaged with very few blood spots showing up and aside from some minor scrapes elsewhere, and some bruising, she was fine.

"What did you do to yourself?" he sighed. For the most part, her injuries were minor and showed little sign of becoming infected but he wasn't too worried for her external wounds. Most of her abdomen and even down to her lower stomach seemed almost completely covered in black bruises. It was large clusters of them that seemed to merge together into one massive spot over her stomach. Now, regardless it could be some minor bleeding but after seeing some of those hits she took…well he couldn't necessarily rule out internal bleeding just yet. So far though, she didn't show any of the obvious signs of it which meant he either should keep an eye on her for the next few days or just pass it off as an overreaction.

"I would do worst to myself than just this." she remarked as she peeled off the bandages to examine the flesh splits down along her sides. It was evident to see where fingers had pressed into the skin and ripped it aside with such ease the flesh almost split open evenly. "The most damage aside from my leg is a few bruised ribs and that's about it."

"You should be glad that's all you escaped with." he spoke as he checked the cuts over before he slowly applied more of the ointment to them; watching as the skin peeled back together in just seconds. "Although, I'm quite surprised you escaped with the injuries that you did have."

"Expected more or less?" she questioned.

"I expected broken ribs and maybe an arm or two but I didn't quite expect the glass part." he answered as he moved from small cut to small cut. "But I guess with how well you're trained in combat, you adapted quite easily to taking massive amounts of damage."

"You use your skills to reduce the damage taken; I use my skills to take the full damage and reduce the pain." she replied; leaning back slightly on her arms as she felt him move to tend to the gashes on her other side now. "It works out in the end."

"For who exactly? Your leg or your ribs?"

She chuckled lightly and watched now as only white scars lined her sides. "What are you going to do about yourself then?"

"Don't turn this around to me." he replied.

"I'm not the one made of skin and bones right now." she reminded.

He sighed as he set his hands down by her sides and tucked his head into the curve of her neck. "It will solve itself out in time."

She moved one hand to cup the back of his neck as she played her fingers through his hair. "Are you talking about your health or us?"


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Alright so, kind of happy to announce that as far as I have planned, this is the second to the last chapter. It's kicked my ass and made me drag my feet a bit but I'm finally happy to have it done. **

"How do we know?"

"I don't know."

"It doesn't make sense. I can't even…I can't find or think of a connection."

"That's because we would have to start at the beginning and work our way to this point."

She watched as he pushed himself up from where he had been previously resting; forcing his body to rest most of its weight on his arms. He had fleshed out a bit in the few passing days and regained a bit more shape to his body aside from just bones. It would still take a few more days, maybe weeks before he fully recover from it but at least there was a sign of progress. And despite him saying that he needed almost absolute rest to make a full recovery, he had yet to actually commit to that. At first he did, mostly when they were both injured and exhausted from fighting but now that she was feeling better and walking around more…well he didn't seem to enjoy her leaving his line of sight. It wasn't a constant thing, but she noted that after a few hours or so, he would join her in whatever she was doing.

"How?"

"Let me ask you something." he started as he leaned back on his forearms now to spread out the extra weight and force on his shoulders. "How…or rather why didn't you absolutely hate me after I used the Gabriel effect on you?"

"Why did you keep me alive?" Nemu questioned.

"At the time, it was to use you to find a quick antidote for that super human drug and that you would serve as a viable hostage…And I won't lie, maybe a part of me was still under Fornicaras affect, but your body style also may have played a part in it."

"I thought that would come up."

"You didn't answer my question." Szayel reminded.

"That's because…I don't know how." she answered; leaning against the doorframe. "It wouldn't be the first time I've been put through something physically and mentally shaking for the sake of anything. I don't think I comprehended it as being used, it just felt natural for me to suffer for the sake of someone else. You did what you thought you had to do in order to survive that battle; I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for my own benefit. At the least…you brought me back. I had that to be thankful for. You could've easily left me dead but you didn't…even if it was just for the purpose of using me again later on."

"You showed some signs of anger but they didn't seem to be very characteristic of you." he commented.

"Because they weren't. I didn't express emotion so I was able to detach myself from a large amount of the environment around me; it made it easier to deal with in terms of people dying around me. I had one purpose in life and when you took it away from me…everything I knew shattered."

"Somewhere along the way, you shifted your focus."

"My initial purpose was to only serve; I didn't know much outside of doing that."

"It explains why you lowered your anger around me." he remarked. "Let me ask you something else, why did you kiss me that first time? I was fully prepared to kill you and yet…you didn't show the least bit of fear."

"Violence doesn't frighten me." she started. "But you were fighting more with yourself than with me; I was merely an outlet. Your mental state had weakened underneath the amount of pain and stress you had experienced at the time; you were visible upset but mentally detached from what was going on. You were unaware of how much I had been able to gather on you through small observations. Maybe it's because of Fornicaras, but I figured out your energy could be tamed through physical touch and I went with it. It wasn't supposed to mean anything, I just wanted you to calm down before you did more harm to yourself."

"And that same kind of mindset would explain the event that happened much later, correct?"

"Your energy was unstable once more and I felt like it was necessary to repeat the same method…only it went further than expected and was completely unplanned."

"Yes well…I must admit there were some minor regrets in that choice." he spoke.

"But you were right." Nemu replied. "Because I no longer sensed you as a threat, I slowly began to shift my image into someone who I thought would be better suited for you. Into someone who I thought you would slowly begin to trust."

"Trust?"

"In my mindset, I couldn't serve someone who didn't trust me."

He nodded slowly and shifted more weight to rest against the curve of his lower back. "So where did we switch?"

"Well I always had the thought that you were merely just infatuated with my body-"

"I can't deny that."

"But why did you protect me from Nnoitra?"

"Well one, it was Nnoitra." he started. "Second, if I didn't interrupt sooner or later, he would've done far worse to you than give you that small cut on the temple. And like hell I was just going to sit aside and allow him to do-"

"So you were protective of me then."

"I…I guess so."

"Why?"

"Because…hell, you went out of your way to heal me even after I made threats to kill you, not to mention destroyed your only way out right in front of you and pretty much held you against your will here. In some small return, I figured I could at least step in and deflect Nnoitra for a bit. It's not like I would stand there and let him just…have his way with you."

"Territorial much?"

"Well I hate to say but I do love your love handles."

She chuckled lightly as she pushed herself off the doorframe and into the actual bedroom. "I get the feeling that this is all just revolving around one object here."

"Hmm…I would say it revolves around several objects but that works just fine too." Szayel remarked; watching her every move as she strolled over.

"So tell me then, is there a reason outside of physical looks that really…makes this work?" she questioned.

He sighed quietly and watched as those green eyes seemed desperate to connect with his own. Without any or many words, she found her way into the empty space next to him. Hands moved together in simultaneous motions as fingers reached out to touch and make contact with flesh. The reaction seemed to do little to answer her question but she wasn't going to deny the soft strokes and warm touches.

"You were always right when you said you could calm my energy through physical touch." he started; fingers running along the back of her neck as he pulled her forward enough to press their foreheads together. "It keeps me in a more…sane state of mind when you do."

"Where are you going with this?" she questioned; placing her hands on either side of him as she rested her weight on one hip and leaned in towards him. "I already know that-"

"It also allows me to make a greater connection with you." he continued. "You would be surprised by everything you can pick up on in just a simple touch. That's how things transitioned from being physical to being…something more."

"We've both used that, haven't we?"

A soft hum escaped him as he pulled her forward enough to press his lips against her own. "You don't only have to connect physically with someone with every touch. Even now, there's something deeper than just the flesh. It was difficult to connect with you at first because…you wouldn't let me."

"It's not that I wouldn't let you…" she started; drawing him in for a short embrace. "You're saying that through this, physical touch helped you to connect with me emotionally and mentally. I was never one for emotions and my mental health was fairly linear."

"Hence why a lot of my earlier decisions pertained only to your physical form." he chuckled; enjoying the heat of her lips against his own. "And why my later actions couldn't really be explained in full truth."

She brought one hand up to cup along his jawline as she pulled him in for a full embrace. It was the simple brushing of their lips put in with more force and just a tad bit too much passion. The tip of his tongue enticed and experimented with her lips before she gave into him; fingertips pressing inward with a bit more heat on soft flesh. What started with just lips and hands moving, turned to bodies as she found the empty space on top of him and took it. Fingers moved to tangle slowly in his pink strands as he brought his hands to rest on the top of her hips; wrinkling the soft material by bundling it between his fingers.

"You're up to a hundred fifty now." he whispered.

"How high can you get it?" she questioned.

He pulled her in for another kiss as if to accept the challenge. His hands moved to fit around her body as they both seemed to tumble off to the side; his body fitted perfectly over her own as he pinned her slightly between him and the bed. She crossed her arms over the back of his neck and pulled him down to tighten the space between them; her legs moved to follow the shape and form of his as she slowly tangled them together.

"Hey Szayel, are you in? I mean, you're not dissecting a body or anything, are you?" a voice called from in the distance.

"I will be in a few minutes." he muttered against her lips.

"Go see what he wants." she replied as she moved her hands to touch at his chest. "Then come back to me."

"Can't I just make him come back later and just stay here?" he teased as he pulled her into one more kiss before he unwrapped himself from her hold. As much as he would prefer to just stay with her, he supposed there were still some duties that needed to be held higher on his list of priorities. Carefully pulling his neatly discarded shirt from the nearby chair, he slipped it on and took the time to make himself look somewhat presentable before he headed out into the rest of the building. "I'm right here. Is there something you need?"

Starrk turned at the sudden question, only slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of the scientist. "Not really, I just thought I'd drop in and see how things were doing. I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"No…no, it was really nothing." he started. "I'll just pick back up with it later."

"Alright, well then…" Starrk shrugged. "I guess that's really all I wanted to know."

"Let me guess, Harribel sent you."

"…Yeah. She said it was supposed to show a better sign of leadership, but to be honest, I just wanted to finish my nap." he chuckled. "I guess I just assumed that at this point, we didn't really need to try and throw our weight around. Maybe it was supposed to help push us back together to one side but…I didn't really give much thought to it."

"I guess I just thought that once we had already set aside our current problems, we would just move on from there but I suppose the lack of some kind of organization would ultimately be a downfall."

"Something like that, plus I think it would be far too dangerous to let Nnoitra and Nell go off unchecked for long periods of time." Starrk offered. "It just seems reckless."

"You make a good point." Szayel nodded. "But, unless you're interested in something in the lab, there's really no other reason to be here. Everything here is under control as far as I know and should remain as such."

"Well that's good, probably some of the better news I've heard today." he commented.

"Right, well then if you'll excuse me, I have some…other matters to attend to." He waited till the dark-haired Espada had left his sight before he slipped back into the bedroom behind him. "I guess they're actually starting to get serious about putting this place back on its feet."

"You already gave up on it?" Nemu questioned as she rolled over to rest on her side.

"Not so much that but…perhaps more on the prospect of reigning authority, I'm not entirely sure on the subject- it doesn't bother me much, so I don't put much consideration into it." he shrugged lightly as he made his way back over to her. "As long as I still get to do what I normal do with little to no interference, I'm fine."

She watched as he gave a long stretch before he took his place next to her; allowing her to lightly drape her arms over his shoulders as she pulled him in closer. "You're easy to please."

"You would know."


	27. Ending

**A/N: Last chapter finally. Kind of bittersweet but I'm kind of glad to have it finally over with. And to think it started off as just a thought and that it was only supposed to be ten chapters, but things never go as planned for me. Is this the best story I've written? Far from it. Could it have been better? Oh definitely but regardless, I'm happy with how it turned out and glad to at least have finished it. To be honest, and not to sound self centered, but I did do this story mostly for myself. When you have such an odd and weird OTP and it's difficult to find stories of them, sometimes you just gotta go out on a limb and make a weirdo of yourself by posting stories of them. I'm just glad I actually had the balls to do it and post it for people to read. I do want to thank everyone who read and reviewed it, and even those who didn't review it, at least you gave it a chance and that's all I ask. Who knows, maybe I helped someone decide to post their own stories, maybe not. Either way, I just want to thank the people who stuck around and say that you're probably glad to see it end, like I do. In a good way though lol. **

"You can sense their presence…can't you?" Starrk questioned as he looked up at the dimmed skyline off at the horizon.

Harribel dropped her arms from their crossed position as she stood just a few feet behind him. He didn't even have to turn to know she was there. "Yes… What do you think they want?"

Closing his eyes, he let out a deep sigh. "I don't know. Their energy isn't hostile; in fact it's rather calm. I don't think they're here to do us harm."

"How can you be sure?"

He turned back towards her and opened his eyes to look into her own. "I'll go meet them. If they're hostile, then it will be clearly evident. And if they're not…then I suppose we will have to take it from there."

"What will you do if they are hostile? You can't be sure if everyone here will react in time and they could potentially outnumber us."

"Perhaps but just think about it. We were told if the dome were to be completely destroyed, it would ultimately detonate anything and everything that is Los Noches. They're in our territory now, so they know of the risk; they wouldn't try anything stupid when they know how easily we could destroy everything. Should they make a move to make us panic…all we have to do is release our swords and everything around here will be destroyed. It's a suicidal idea but it gets the point across, right?"

She nodded and watched as he started off towards the source of the energy. "A coyote can only handle so much without his pack…you remember that Starrk."

**

* * *

**

"Is this the place? It looks like it would be, but I've never been here before so I can't really say for certain."

Ukitake sighed quietly as the small group approached the large-looking palace. The sight of it was slightly intimidating as the massive marble-like walls easily towered over them by what seemed like miles. Was this it? Was this the cursed Las Noches they had heard so much of? Was this where so many of their other Captains and former allies had fallen? Was this where Aizen had retreated long ago? Was this the reason behind his betrayal?

"Well, I must say this place certainly looks better than when we were last here." Unohana remarked as she walked carefully at his side. Her arms crossed over her chest while her jacket sleeves merged together to hide her delicate hands. "Last I remember, it was in ruins. Do you remember that, Isane?"

Isane looked back to the massive palace before she nodded quietly. "Yes Captain." This was the place where so many of their allies had fallen. How could such a horrid memory be bestowed upon such a majestic-looking structure? But she remembered the bloodshed well. She remembered stumbling upon body after body with the helplessness of knowing that had they been quicker, those Shinigamis could've been saved.

"Hmmm…well I suppose we should look for the front door." Shunsui spoke as he stopped slightly before he adjusted his hat to block out the harsh sunlight. "Now where might one be?"

"I don't think we'll need one." Hitsugaya started as he brought one hand to rest on the hilt of his sword. His eyes watched as the outline of a figure slowly stepped out of the building and started to make its way towards them. "Looks like they sent a welcoming party."

Looking up at his words, Shunsui watched as the figure grew closer and closer to them before it stopped with just a few yards of distance between them. It only took him a few seconds to identify the figure as a nervous, yet charming grin made its way across his face. "Well well, you're a familiar face." his eyes took note of those hardened eyes that stared down at them; far different from the lazy ones that he had battled against what seemed like years ago.

"Shunsui…" Ukitake started as he took note of the shattered hollow hole that was clearly evident on the man's chest; the cracks spread out till they disappeared underneath the Espada's uniform shirt. "I don't think this is going to go over as well as we had hoped."

"Oh nonsense, we've got to keep a good head in this game." Shunsui assured with a grin before he turned his attention back to the dark-haired Espada. "No hard feelings, right?"

Starrk wrinkled his nose slightly at the remark. "Is there a…reason why you're here?"

"We mean you no harm." Shunsui spoke; holding his hands up. "In fact, we came here to discuss something more like…a peace offering."

"A peace offering?"

Starrk turned back at the voice and watched as his cinnamon-skinned partner stepped out into the desert to join him.

"I'm glad to see you are looking better." Unohana smiled.

Harribel nodded lightly at the woman's remark before she turned her attention to the Captain with quite the odd hat in her opinion. "What kind of peace offering? What kind of peace do you expect to bring to us?"

Shunsui chuckled quietly and scratched the side of his head. "I know how odd this must seem to you, with us appearing out of the blue like this. If you just hear us out though…we think we have something that will allow both our sides to rest in peace."

"I hope this doesn't come off sounding like a bad note, but why exactly did you wait till now to bring this up?" Starrk questioned. "It's been years, why now?"

Shunsui sighed this time as he pushed his hat back slightly. "Well to be honest, it wasn't quite as easy we all had assumed it to be. We had to go through paperwork and different proposals and then we had to present our case to the council. Turns out, after the last council had been killed no one really thought to put in the motion to actually elect some new ones. So we had to wait till every position had been filled and then present our case, which took years it seemed just for them to give us a slight approval of it."

"Slight approval?"

"Well we needed a majority ruling and we slid by with three votes." he sighed. "But regardless, we had finally gotten the permissions and approval we needed, so we planned out our trip and some mild details that would be needed. Now, we don't have the whole plan worked out but we have the message. After all the deaths both sides had to suffer…I think it's time we at least attempt some kind of treaty."

Starrk looked to Harribel for a moment and watched as she stepped up to stand at his side. "I can only tell you that the few here will be able to negotiate on this. I have no power outside of this building and I have no control on what they do."

"You're not alone on that one." Ukitake spoke. "We can only promise that our strongest will not give aggressive behaviors towards you…as for the others though, we cannot even assure you on anything. As of now, only few people are actually aware of this proposal, so we cannot promise that things will go by smoothly."

"It sounds as though it's the strong protecting the strong then." Harribel remarked.

"I suppose it does." Shunsui nodded.

"If so, then let us just focus on the ones standing here then." she continued. "We'll worry about the consequences later. Should there be anger and a mild uprising…well it wouldn't be the first time we've had to deal with the case and I was never set that that would never be the last either."

"Well said."

"You've made your point." Starrk started. "And we accept to discuss this proposal of yours. However, I would suggest we do so inside; the afternoon sun makes me tired." He barely waited for the others to nod in agreement before he turned and headed back towards the large, white structure behind them. Pushing aside the entrance doors, he lead the small group into the welcoming corridor that lead deep inside of the building.

"Are you two the only ones here?" Shunsui questioned.

"Unfortunately no." Starrk chuckled. "We have four other members who are not present."

"Will they be in our discussion?" Ukitake asked.

"I haven't quite decided on it yet." Starrk replied. "You have to be careful with two of them, they…they're certainly different is all I can correctly say."

"Needless to say, we are hesitant to bring them into this discussion." Harribel added. "They can be…hard to manage at times."

"Oh I can think of a few members just like that." Shunsui nodded.

"They will eventually be informed regardless but perhaps when we have more of the details settled out." Starrk spoke. "We don't want them jumping to any unnecessary conclusions." Approaching the grand arch doorway that lead into the newly reconstructed conference area, he pushed aside the door and held it to reveal the near room-length scaled table on the inside. "Take a seat and we can talk this over."

* * *

"Really all we would need is some kind of…proof you could say, that Hollows and Shinigamis can coexist with little to no conflict. Or at least avoid causalities of the sort. We're really not aiming too high with this one." Shunsui explained. "For instance, we're able to sit together in this room with not even the slightest harsh tone but…we can't necessarily say that any of the others who are not present in this meeting or really in on this plan will follow in the same suit."

Starrk sighed lightly and closed his eyes for a moment. "What if…what if we were to say that…we do have proof? Would that offer any kind of solidification to this plan?"

"You actually…have proof?" Ukitake questioned; arching an eyebrow slightly.

"It's really not part of my business to throw that out there but seeing as this situation deals with both parties as a whole, I do believe it would be in the best interest." Starrk nodded.

"What kind of proof?" Shunsui asked.

Glancing over towards Harribel for a moment, he nodded before he carefully pushed himself away from the table. "Well if you don't mind a minor detour, Harribel and I can…we can show you."

"Well I see no problem in it." Shunsui nodded as he got to his feet as well. "After all, it could potentially seal this arrangement of ours."

"Not to sound pessimistic here, but we shouldn't be jumping ahead of ourselves here." Hitsugaya remarked.

"Oh I'm sure it'll be fine." Unohana assured with a smile.

Starrk slowly lead the small group out of the room and out into the winding corridors once more. He glanced over as Harribel stepped up to his side and matched his stride. "Are we doing the right thing?"

"You said once before that you wanted all the fighting to end. Do you still want that?" she questioned.

"Yes."

"Then that is your answer."

He sighed lightly and ran a hand through his messy locks. "I mean, as a whole, this is what we would want. After so much suffering and endless fighting, we just wanted to live on with the rest of our lives in some kind of false form of tranquility. But this is our chance to make that dream become a reality…and I'm already starting to question it."

"This 'arrangement' pertains to only the people in this building." Harribel started. "Worry only for the reactions from them. As they had stated before…we can't control everyone here just like they can't control every Shinigami in Soul Society, but at the least they can prevent an attack from the higher-leveled ones, just like we can. Keep that in mind."

He nodded and turned his attention back to where they were headed. "Alright well…I hope we won't be intruding on anything…this time."

"This time?" Ukitake repeated.

"Yes uh…well I guess you'll really just have to see it to understand." Starrk attempted to answer. "But regardless, it's worth it despite what you might see in advance."

"That doesn't sound too good." Hitsugaya muttered.

"It's completely harmless, I can assure." Starrk started; pausing slightly as he watched another figure appear from an adjacent hallway a few yards in front of them. He didn't really have to see the figure's outline or any small details to already pinpoint who it was. Drawing in a deep breath, he slowly let it out as they drew closer to the figure. "Here we go." he whispered to himself.

Carefully shifting the toddler up a bit on his shoulder, he stepped out into the adjacent hallway once more. After ten or twenty minutes of walking, the child was finally starting to fall asleep. Her head was tucked into the curve of his neck with her fingers tightly bundled in the soft material of his uniform. Every now and then she would let out a loud exhale and quietly shift her position around a bit. He moved his arms to better support her, which caused her to stir for a moment before she fell back asleep.

"Szayel."

He turned his attention to the call and took note of the small group heading down the corridor. He had picked up on their energy before but somewhere along the way he had lost track of it…till now of course. The sight of the four Captains was unsettling but he easily suppressed the feelings as they neared; perhaps not as well or fast as he thought as the child against his shoulder slowly stirred awake once more.

"Starrk." he replied.

The first seemed to have a problem with solving the rest of his words as he took a moment to get everything together. "I don't really have to explain anything to you, do I?"

"Have you ever?" he questioned.

"Is she awake or still napping?" Harribel questioned.

He glanced down at the daughter who yawned briefly and seemed to be slowly waking herself up. "It took me twenty minutes to get her to fall asleep and three seconds for you to wake her back up."

"Heh, well it's been a short day for her I guess." Starrk chuckled.

"She's adorable." Unohana commented.

"Regardless if she is or isn't, I would certainly accept it as proof." Shunsui remarked. "I don't think I could bring myself to attack the home of a child."

"Actually…she is the proof, but not for that reason." Starrk started.

"Then for what reason?"

"She's the offspring of a Hollow and a Shinigami."


End file.
